BY GREGORY A. HALL
The Cincinnati Enquirer
COVINGTON -- A 19-year-old Covington police cadet's idea to go into bars to see if they'd sell to underage people led to citations for 10 establishments Thursday night.
Only four bars refused to sell beer to the cadet, Nick Klaiss, and a civilian, also 19, who was with him.
"I think it explains why there's such a problem with underage drinking," said Lt. Col. Steve Schmidt, an assistant chief and department spokesman.
Covington police say the point is to try to eliminate some of the problems that lead to kids driving drunk and getting in other trouble.
Thursday night's activity, between 5 and 10:30 p.m., marked the fourth underage drinking detail this spring and summer for the department's Community Oriented Policing and Problem Solving team. But it was the first time going into bars; previous efforts concentrated on package liquor stores.
The bars cited Thursday night were mainly on Covington's west side, Lt. Col. Schmidt said, but were selected more or less at random. They were:
- Larry's Cafe & Bar, 534 W. Ninth St.
- Hegge's Cafe, 933 Main St.
- Dottie's Pike Street Pub, 266 Pike St.
- Crosstown Pub, 1132 Lee St.
- Pete's Place, 525 W. 13th St.
- Skooter's Tavern, 1565 Holman Ave.
- Salty Dog, 304 Linden Ave.
- Last Chance, 213 W. 19th St.
- Nie's, 335 W. 19th
- Nielanders II, 2995 Madison Ave.
