THE GAZETTE
Wednesday, September 18, 2013 s
CITIZENS
Continued from Page A-1 test in which students drew a poster for the new citizens to take home along with their citizenship certificate. She stood in front of the new Americans, congratulated them and gave the poster she drew of an American eagle and Statue of Liberty. “It was really cool and made me realize how lots of people take for granted how many rights we have,” Stefanie said. The 26 citizenship candidates were from Argentina, Brazil, Cameroon, China, the Czech Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Germany, Ghana, Haiti, Honduras, India, Iraq, Malaysia, Norway, Pakistan, Peru, Poland, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Korea and Vietnam. Among them was 64-year-old Cheng-Seng Lim. The U.S. Postal Service employee from Boyds moved to America in 1971 from Malaysia. He was only 20 years old, looking for better opportunities, economic stability and freedom. Lim married and raised a family, but only now feels like they are “finally one.” Meanwhile, Wilson Reis, 25, moved to the U.S. in 2006 from Brazil and now lives in Silver Spring. Reis has plans to study at Montgomery College to become an engineer, and said he felt accomplished and free after receiving his citizenship certificate.
COMPLIANCE
Continued from Page A-1 sure, regulation and education division of the county’s Department of Liquor Control. “The young people are trained to not trick anyone. We just want to check to see if businesses are carding and not serving to people under 21.” Volunteers testing for legal sales use their real, state-issued IDs, which have a bright red box around the portrait and the block script “under 21 alcohol restricted.” The IDs also say what day the person will turn 18 and 21. Volunteers can’t lie about their age or refuse to show servers their IDs. They can’t wear excessive makeup or have facial hair, which might make them look older. If a server or bartender refuses to serve them, they must leave immediately, police said. “That’s the disadvantage we have ... but kids going in are going to lie and do whatever they can to get alcohol,” said Montgomery County Police Officer Bill Morrison, a 20-year veteran of the county’s Alcohol Enforcement Unit. Morrison said police only use volunteers younger than 20, so they won’t be 21 if summoned to testify in a court case. Navarette made compliance checks from the time she was 17 until last year, when she turned 20. Waiters and clerks usually are taken aback when someone underage actually presents identification, said Ron Price, compliance manager with the county’s liquor control department. “A lot of people make the assumption that if the under-21 [customer] showed me their ID, they must be 21,” he said. “Otherwise, why would they show me?” Businesses must be prepared and alert to prevent serving minors, Price said. “You’re not serving a CocaCola, for crying out loud,” he said. “You’re serving a beverage that may change someone’s behavior. You should have someone properly trained.” Of the 400 county businesses tested in the last fiscal year, which ended June 30, 111 sold alcohol to minors, meaning 72 percent passed, according to Emily DeTitta, the Department of Liquor Control’s licensing and outreach manager. During those 111 failed tests, 39 times employees looked at volunteers’ IDs and still completed a sale, DeTitta said. In fiscal year 2012, 102
TRIAL
Continued from Page A-1 Arrest records say Rivas raped the girl, now 15, in a men’s changing room, then gave her $100. The girl’s mother, 41, from Germantown, ordered her daughter to have sex with Rivas even after the girl begged her not to, telling her in one instance, “I’ve done a lot of bad things to make you have a good life. Go with him,” ac-
During the week prior to the ceremony, students at the Rosa Parks Middle School were quizzed during the morning announcements with the same government and civic questions that naturalization candidates face on their citizenship test. “It is just the sheer appreciation. [It is] really understanding the process and what it takes to become a citizen and being able to see the real deal,” Jones said. Ana Giordani-Richter, 41, of Silver Spring, a fifth-grade teacher at Rock Creek Forest Elementary School in Bethesda, also became a new American on Tuesday. She met her future husband in Argentina, where she was a lawyer, and moved to the U.S. in 2008. Giordani-Richter began volunteering in schools and decided to get a master’s in teaching from the University of Maryland. “It is a long road. The whole immigration process and the whole paperwork ... so I am really happy,” she said. “This is important for us as a family.” Students sang the national anthem and led the new citizens in the Pledge of Allegiance. The school orchestra played “America the Beautiful” and a video was shown in which students shared what it meant to be an American citizen and congratulated the new Americans. Jones ended the ceremony by calling the new citizens “my fellow Americans” and thanked them for “choosing the United States of America as their new home.”
of 400 businesses that were checked sold alcohol to minors, meaning 75 percent passed. Of those 102 failures, 50 times servers or clerks asked for ID, yet went ahead with the sale. “Our compliance rate is not getting better,” Durbin said. When Navarrete started doing checks — sometimes she went to 20 businesses a night — she had a limited knowledge of alcohol, so police officers took her around to liquor stores to show her types of booze she might run into, she said. Police said the tests are an important part of keeping teens safe and avoiding unnecessary and avoidable fatalities and injuries. Underage drinkers don’t know how to drink responsibly, which can have deadly consequences, Morrison said. “It’s a perfect storm leading to disaster — an inexperienced drinker and an inexperienced driver,” he said. Rachel, of Rockville, began performing alcohol checks at age 15. Now 17, she is studying criminal justice at Towson University. The Gazette is not publishing her last name to protect the integrity of future compliance checks. Her photo, though, is widely used by the Department of Liquor Control in an educational poster about serving alcohol to minors. Even after years of compliance checks, Rachel said, she still gets uncomfortable. “I get nervous when there are other people around ... or if I’m the only customer. ... It looks funny,” she said. When an establishment makes an illegal sale, the Department of Liquor Control cites the business, Durbin said, and issues other penalties, such as fines or mandatory trainings. The county has an ALERT — Alcohol Law Enforcement Regulatory Training — class for restaurant workers and owners. A restaurant also can get a fine, usually of $1,000 to $20,000, Durbin said. The server gets a criminal citation and could face fines, community service or additional training. Navarrete, who studies psychology at Trinity Washington University in Washington, D.C., used to feel bad when businesses and servers were cited. “Some people would get in a lot of trouble,” she said. After a while, her opinions shifted. “These people are selling to minors,” she said. “And that’s how accidents happen.” If a sale was made, Rachel said, she left the establishment. Then, police officers went incording to the charging documents. When the victim’s mother was arrested, the woman told police she had left the girl alone with Rivas for only about 10 minutes, the documents said. Rivas is charged with 13 counts of rape, sexual abuse, and other charges. Esteban Gergely, Rivas’ attorney, could not be reached for comment. Rivas has a trial scheduled for next month. sjbsmith@gazette.net
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BILL RYAN/THE GAZETTE
Principal Donna Redmond Jones and others listen as eighth-grader Kimberly Greulich sings the national anthem during Tuesday’s naturalization ceremony at Rosa Parks Middle School in Olney.
side and explained the result of the check and the potential consequences, she said. Maryland’s driver’s license system makes it easier for clerks and servers to distinguish underage customers. People younger than 21 receive a vertical license — like a standard, horizontal license, but on its side. “Most of the time they look at it and seem confused or they don’t know what to look for,” Rachel said. “It’s not every single one, but it’s more than it
should be.” She said she thinks servers might be distracted, or just want to make a sale. Many waiters have served her even after she’s shown her ID, she said. Now in her third year as a volunteer, Rachel knows the value of what she does. “I’m around people who are on the other side of what I’m doing because a lot of people my age do drink,” she said, referring to peers buying alcohol illegally. “It’s concern-
ing because there are so many indicators of my age.” “I’m kind of proud,” Rachel’s mother said in an interview. “She’s on the good side of drinking, working at the compliance checks, instead of going to underage parties and getting citations.” Rachel has made her share of enemies among clerks and shopkeepers. “I’ve had people start yelling at me and telling me I’m crazy and I should never come back here,” she said. “I’ve had
people think they know what’s going on and tell me, ‘Go tell your inspector friend to stop what they’re doing.’” “It can be intimidating,” said Price, the county compliance manager. “Some people can get really pissed off about it.” Still, Rachel isn’t fazed. “I feel like it’s a service to save people’s lives and prevent underage drinking,” she said. sjbsmith@gazette.net
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