Two Statesboro businesses had their alcohol licenses suspended for three days because of twice selling alcohol to an underage person.

Statesboro City Council had scheduled hearings for 12 businesses at its meeting Tuesday morning. This is a continuation of the crackdown on alcohol license violations in which the city has engaged since the Aug. 28 beating death of Georgia Southern University student Michael Gatto, 18, of Cumming at the since-closed Rude Rudy's by Grant James Spencer, 20, of Olympic Boulevard, an off-duty bouncer at the bar.

Spencer, also a Georgia Southern student, is in the Bulloch County Jail without bond on charges of felony murder and aggravated battery in connection with the death.

Many of the violations were noted on Oct. 11, when Statesboro police engaged in compliance checks of a number of businesses that sell alcohol, during homecoming weekend at Georgia Southern. In those cases, Statesboro police Detective Lt. Robert Bryan told council, an undercover, underage informant working with the police department successfully bought alcohol at the businesses. In others that took place earlier, he said the undercover informant was working with the Georgia Department of Revenue.

Two of the businesses before council Tuesday — Food World on Fair Road and Time Saver at 301 N. Main St. — had two violations. Both businesses agreed to waive their hearings, and council unanimously approved suspending both of their licenses for three days. The suspensions started at 12:01 a.m. today and end at midnight Friday.

The city's current alcohol ordinance calls for a warning or one-day suspension of an alcohol license on first violation, and further says that council "may" suspend an alcohol license for three days on a second violation within a year of the first, City Attorney Alvin Leaphart said.

Dana Kennedy, store manager of the Food World on Fair Road, explained that the first offense, in which a cashier sold alcohol to an undercover, underage Georgia Department of Revenue informant on Aug. 20, happened because the cashier incorrectly keyed in the customer's birthdate from a driver's license.

He said the second offense, in which a different cashier sold alcohol to an underage, undercover Statesboro police informant on Oct. 11, happened when the cashier was having problems with the register, and again an incorrect birthdate was keyed in.

Because of that, he said, the store is in the process of installing new equipment that will require the driver's licenses of customers trying to purchase alcohol to be scanned, rather than manually keyed in.

"We're hoping to try to get that in the next couple of weeks, where there is no keying in the wrong date," Kennedy said.

Time Saver, 301 N. Main St., was found to have sold alcohol to underage, undercover informants on Nov. 20 and Oct. 11. Kishorchandra Dodia of Time Saver said he has sent his employees through another round of training on alcohol sales and placed stickers throughout the store warning of the consequences of selling alcohol to underage people.

Gregory Jones Woolard had three Clyde's Market locations found to have a violation: 17874 Georgia Highway 67 (Aug. 20), 1399 U.S. Highway 301 S. (Oct. 11) and 1609 Fair Road (Oct. 11). Because of that, Mayor Jan Moore asked Woolard what steps he has taken to ensure this doesn't happen again.

Woolard explained that previously, cashiers were required to enter the birthdate from the driver's license of a customer who was attempting to buy alcohol.

"These employees, or former employees, of ours willingly overrode the system by falsifying the date they put in the cash register system," he said. "Upon these violations, they were terminated, no questions asked, because we figured if that was their procedure, that they were going to override the system, we don't need them employed with our organization."

Going forward, Woolard said he requires all of his employees to sign a statement every week saying they understand the importance of selling alcohol only to those of legal age, and that he has arranged for training for all of his employees to properly handle alcohol sales.

James Stafford of RumRunners was not present, but he agreed to waive his right to a hearing for a violation recorded Oct. 11. Bryan also read into the record an apology letter Stafford wrote to City Council.

In that letter, Stafford said he has communicated with the employees involved in selling alcohol to underage people and emphasizing his "zero tolerance" of such actions. Like the others who spoke at the meeting, Stafford said in his letter that he is retraining his employees.

"Regardless," he wrote, "we as a whole are responsible, and we as a whole will work together as a team to do a better job."

Mabrook Hallat of Fast & Easy, was the only alcohol license holder to start a hearing.

Under questioning from Bryan, Detective Kevin Weatherly detailed how the police department sent a 20-year-old undercover informant into Fast & Easy, 118 Lanier Drive, on Oct. 11 with her driver's license and $10 to buy a six-pack of Coors Light. She was able to do that with no problems, even with her ID showing that she was underage, Weatherly said. The informant recorded the transaction using a hidden video camera.

When it came time for Hallat to question Weatherly, he didn't. Instead, Hallat said his lawyer had advised him that the proceeding before council was merely a "meeting," not one in which evidence would be offered and accepted.

Mayor Pro Tem Will Britt advised Hallat that, because he only had one offense, if he would plead guilty the way others had done, his business would only be subject to a warning. Once Hallat understood that, he agreed to waive the rest of the hearing and plead guilty.

Council, in turn, accepted the guilty plea and approved issuing a warning, as it had done with the other nine businesses that waived their hearings and pleaded guilty to one violation.

Jason Wermers may be reached at (912) 489-9431.