A recent letter to the Washington State Liquor Control Board from the Seattle Police Department asks that the liquor license for SP Mart not be renewed. SP Mart is located just five blocks from Eckstein Middle School, the recipient of a prevention grant from the Division of Alcohol and Substance Abuse because of high underage drinking rates in northeast Seattle.
Over the past few years, SP Mart has been caught selling alcohol to minors multiple times by both Seattle Police and the Liquor Control Board. Earlier today, I was told that they were caught selling to minors again last Friday, despite being notified that their liquor license is in jeopardy.
On February 6, I blogged about a study that shows that drinking rates are higher among 12 - 17 year-olds who live within a half-mile of an alcohol outlet and those teenagers are more likely to binge drink and engage in drunk driving. Reducing the access minors have to alcohol in our community is an important part of the multiple prevention strategies our coalition is implementing.
