The wrath of KCMO’s Regulated Industries Division, and a reader’s questions answered

Yesterday, Plog reader tracy a. asked some astute questions regarding how Kansas City’s Regulated Industries Division decides on punishments after busting an establishment for selling alcohol to minors.

The question was prompted by yesterday’s post, which reported that Sol Cantina’s liquor license will be suspended for seven days (January 1 through January 8, 2010) following a December 5 violation of the law.

tracy a. wanted to know: Can some newsie find out why different places receive different penalties for the same violations?

We checked in with Jim Ready, assistant manager of Regulated Industries, who cleared up some things. First off: Sol Cantina’s violation was its third this year, not its second, as I’d previously reported (the first offense happened May 15).

“We do have a set way to evaluate all these,” Ready explained. “The manager (of Regulated Industries, Gary Majors) has a standard in which he holds everybody, and a set system (of punishments) for the first, second, third and fourth offenses. Fairness is obviously a concern.”