By David Smith
Journal and Courier - 3/3/00

INDIANAPOLIS -- House and Senate conferees on Thursday worked out their differences over a bill aimed at revoking the permits of bar and restaurant employees who knowingly serve intoxicated persons.

The agreement clears the way for Senate Bill 186, authored by Sen. Ron Alting, R-Lafayette, to become law.

''This is a good bill. It shows what we can do when we work together,'' Alting told his fellow conference committee members.

Senate Bill 186 would require the Indiana Alcohol Beverage Commission to revoke the server's permit of a bar or restaurant employee if that employee were convicted of a Class B misdemeanor for knowingly serving an alcoholic beverage to an intoxicated person.

The law would apply in only the most egregious cases, such as when an intoxicated person kills or injures someone and the investigation leads back to the person who served him or her drinks.

The state has only a handful of those cases a year, an ABC official said. The permittee would be afforded a hearing prior to suspension.

Rep. Sheila Klinker, D-Lafayette, and Rep. Sue Scholer, R-West Lafayette, were co-sponsors on the bill.

The bill was one of several pieces of legislation introduced this year in response to the deaths last March of Chip Smith and Sarah Towery, who were killed in Tippecanoe County after their vehicle was struck by a pickup driven by a drunken driver.

The driver, who died in the collision as well, had been videotaped buying 10 drinks from a Lafayette bartender a few hours before the crash.

Dan and Margie Towery, parents of Sarah Towery, found afterward that the bartender had numerous convictions for alcohol-related offenses and should not have been issued a permit.

Towery also was hoping to see the General Assembly act on other bills, including one that would have required applicants for a server's permit to supply a criminal background check to the state.

''It's a small step in the right direction,'' he said.

He said he and his wife would continue to push for tougher laws in the future to curb irresponsible serving and drunken driving, and he thanked Alting for the work he put in on the bill.

''He really was a champion on this thing,'' he said.

Michael Jones, government affairs chairman for the Indiana Licensed Beverage Association and owner of three taverns in northern Indiana, said his association supports the legislation.

He said most tavern owners are responsible, but a percentage are not and must be sent a message that overserving is a serious matter.

''We've got to get rid of that bad element out there.''