DRINKER BAN DELIGHTS LIQUOR MERCHANTS, IRKS ACLU

SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- A handful of communities in Northern California are
prohibiting some labeled as habitual drunks from buying alcohol in liquor
stores.

Some of the affected drinkers and the American Civil Liberties Union have
questioned the legality of the anti-drinking measures, which include the
public circulation of photos of serial drinkers.

In San Pablo, pictures of problem drinkers were given to liquor merchants,
who could refuse to sell them alcohol. Some merchants were relieved.

"Sometimes they hang in certain areas.... No one is going into a store
where a bunch of people are standing by," said Elaine Adobe.

Some who made the boozing blacklist, however, had a different take.

"I'm not running around here drunk," said Mike Fitzgerald, who opposes the
ban. "It's the principle of the thing, telling me I cannot buy something."

Police say they are enforcing a state law that prohibits the sale of
alcohol to "habitual drunkards." Civil rights attorneys counter that the
term is an outdated one that was ruled unconstitutional in 1960.

"It's poor public policy, and it's unconstitutional, to finger particular
individuals as common and habitual drunkards and distribute their names and
photos," said civil rights attorney Julia Greenefield.

Some cities concerned about legal controversy have backed off from similar
actions.

San Francisco police handed out photos to merchants in the city's North
Beach two months ago. Now they say the program has been discontinued.

But Paul Safavi, who owns a liquor store in Palo Alto, hopes it will continue.

"With this program, we can filter people we don't want to do business with,
and now we have some support," said Safavi, who owns Century Liquor.

Critics say the program unfairly targets the poor and homeless. Police in
Menlo Park say it takes five police contacts -- not arrests -- related to
alcohol before someone is placed on the list.

"There are a number of people on our list that are homeless, but the
reality of the matter is that many of them are on our list because they
have an alcohol problem," said Dominick Peloso of the Menlo Park police.
"We would hope this would be the first stop for them getting off the
streets."