POLICE DUST OFF AN OLD STATE LAW: NO SELLING ALCOHOL TO ALCOHOLICS

SAN PABLO - A city trying to clean up its town square of public
drunkenness launched its newest tactic Thursday: Going straight to
the source by making it illegal to sell booze to drunks.

Dusting off a little-known state law, police passed out flyers about
eight homeless men and warned merchants that they could be charged
with a misdemeanor for selling the men alcohol.

It's believed to be the first time a town is enforcing a law that
started in 1889.

The homeless men identified say it's a veiled attempt to drive them
out of town.

"It's unfair. I don't even like getting drunk, really. It's about
homelessness, basically," said Mike Fitzgerald, a neatly dressed 34-
year-old who was heading to the town square after buying cigarettes at
one of the nearby liquor stores.

Fitzgerald is one of the "dirty dozen" - those who police say have
claimed the town square as their stomping grounds to drink and use
drugs. All of them, said Sgt. Mark Foisie, have rap sheets with at
least 19 arrests each.

"People call them the trolls under the bridge," said Stephanie Bounds,
a registered dental assistant whose office overlooks the plaza in an
older, run-down section of the working-class town. "I've seen the
police drag people out of there on stretchers and you can't even tell
if they're dead or alive."

At one time, the plaza, with its benches, fountain and Spanish-style
gate, was a place where people used to take their breaks, Bounds said.
Now, it's not only an eyesore but also an embarrassment.

Foisie, the police sergeant, said keeping the homeless from their
liquor was a last-ditch effort at dealing with complaints that they
harass customers for change, drink and use drugs in front of school-
children and burglarize nearby homes. They didn't pay tickets for
drinking in public and refused to go to shelters or to get help, he
said.

Last week, Foisie went to 27 liquor stores with the flyers, copies of
the law and a warning: If caught selling the men liquor, the owners
would face a written warning the first time and a day in jail the second.

Owner Ching Hsieh said he wasn't sure merchants should be
involved.

"When the police handed the papers to me, I said, 'Take them to court
instead,'" he said. "But we're the small guy. We don't want to make
any trouble with the city."

The law makes it a crime to give or sell liquor to "any habitual or
common drunkard or to any obviously intoxicated person."

It's been on the books in California since 1889, with a 1953 update.
Neither version explains who would be considered a "habitual or common
drunkard."

Checked-by: Rich O'Grady