ABTC joins campaign against drunk driving

The Department of Commerce’s Alcohol Beverage and Tobacco Control Division is joining heightened government campaign against drunk driving through a series of classes aimed at educating establishments about serving liquor responsibly.

In an interview, ABTC Director Andrew Salas emphasized the need to safeguard Northern Marianas streets against drunk drivers especially during the holidays when alcoholic beverages are a usual part of the celebration.

Mr. Salas said ABTC is holding the 3D classes both on Saipan and on Rota to increase awareness among restaurant and bar managers, bartenders and wait staff on the responsible serving of alcoholic beverages in order to minimize alcohol-related road accidents.

The Department of Public Safety tapped the assistance of the ABTC three years ago in its program on the prevention of driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs.

The combined efforts of DPS and ABTC managed to significantly pull down alcohol-related road accident fatalities from about nine victims three years back to two last year, according to Mr. Salas.

ABTC is urging business owners whose establishments serve alcoholic beverages to send their managers, bartenders and wait staff to the scheduled classes on Dec. 4 and 5 at the Police Academy Building in Susupe.

ABTC enforcement officer Dave Maratita said the Division will also hold a similar class on Dec. 7, 2000 at the conference room of the Department of Commerce in Rota.

At present, the division has issued license to more than 800 alcohol sellers throughout the Northern Marianas although there are still a number of establishments that are selling alcohol without the benefit of a permit from the government.

Mr. Maratita said the scheduled classes were aimed at educating participants on the value of responsible serving of alcohol; the rights and responsibilities of the servers; and to help them understand existing law on alcoholic beverage control in the CNMI.

He added that modules during the classes, which will be jointly conducted by DPS and ABTC, would also include discussions on how to handle difficult situations, as well as alcohol-related verbal abuse and violence.

At the same time, Mr. Salas called on establishment managers to strictly require customers, especially those who appear to be below 21 years old, to show identification cards in order to make sure that no minor is served alcoholic beverages.

He added that volunteers from the private sector will also be mobilized to assist in the Ride Along Program during the holidays, wherein they will be tasked to drive drunk customers back to their respective residence.

Mr. Maratita said the volunteers will be issued identification cards, adding that work is now underway to encourage the participation of rent-a-car companies who will be asked to provide vehicles for the Ride Along Program.

He said establishment managers, bartenders and wait staff could call any of the ABTC and DPS volunteers who would pick up and drive drunk customers back to their respective homes.