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Grothe Arrested For Serving Booze To Minor


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I cannot believe this isn't a joke.  When I read this nonsense yesterday I thought Matt had actually done something wrong, like intentionally provide free beers to underage friends or something.

Whatever, a bartender forgot to check ID before serving alcohol to a minor.  I cannot believe law enforcement didn't just issue a warning and complain to the manager.  I feel bad for Matt that some low-life federal agency wanted to make a name for itself by harassing a college football player.

Grouper,

Don't get your green and gold glasses get in the way. First if they 18 year old girl gets drunk, drives home and gets into a wreck. Instant lawsuit against the Bull Ring AND Matt; not to mention the criminal aspects. So yes, it is a BIG deal in that aspect.

They weren't making a freaking name, they probably didn't even know who he was. They were just hitting up a bar that had a liquor license on file with them.

Yes, when in hindsight it isn't a big deal, but it very well could have been. Your comments are absurd.

I think you exaggerated what happened by a few degrees.  In your example the part that was a BIG DEAL was the fact that an establishment allowed a patron, regardless of age, to become intoxicated and leave the bar without calling the police.  If that had happened then the establishment and Matt could be liable.  That just didn't happen.

I am not defending underage drinking, nor am I opposed to agencies running operations to ensure laws are enforced.  That being said, I worked in a bar for some time while I was in college, and I have no doubt that every bartender has gotten busy or whatever and forgotten to ID a patron.

Maybe there is more to it then this, but if this was just the first time it seems any reasonable individual would recognize it as a simple mistake and issue warning.  

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I cannot believe this isn't a joke.  When I read this nonsense yesterday I thought Matt had actually done something wrong, like intentionally provide free beers to underage friends or something.

Whatever, a bartender forgot to check ID before serving alcohol to a minor.  I cannot believe law enforcement didn't just issue a warning and complain to the manager.  I feel bad for Matt that some low-life federal agency wanted to make a name for itself by harassing a college football player.

Grouper,

Don't get your green and gold glasses get in the way. First if they 18 year old girl gets drunk, drives home and gets into a wreck. Instant lawsuit against the Bull Ring AND Matt; not to mention the criminal aspects. So yes, it is a BIG deal in that aspect.

They weren't making a freaking name, they probably didn't even know who he was. They were just hitting up a bar that had a liquor license on file with them.

Yes, when in hindsight it isn't a big deal, but it very well could have been. Your comments are absurd.

I'm witcha, joe.  Funny how people get to pick and choose what laws they want enforced.  A screw up is a screw up.  Man up and own it and get on with your life.  Makes me worry about how those who cry foul (don't the cops have better things to do yadda yadda) are raising thier kids.  Wait, I've seen their kids...there is no wonder.

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just be glad he can finish up his community service and probation before football starts up.  if i remember correctly, you can't leave the state when you're on probation.   not good for away games...

i think you can get permission, but its probably not easy.

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They do this at every bar in Tampa. Believe it or not, Matt Grothe is not some kind of celebrity around this town. He might be to USF football fans, but that's a small percentage of the community as a whole.

I assure you, the state agencies do stings at every bar in the area, as does the Hillsborough Sheriff's Department. This had nothing to do with anything but Matt Grothe breaking the first law of bartending.

If you don't like that law enforcement agencies enforce the law, perhaps you ought to try and get it changed, or at least strip some of the power from the organization that pushes for these investigations: MADD.

I said nothing about not liking that the agencies enforce the law, but you cannot sit there and tell me straight-faced that the goverment doesn't make some amount of effort to conduct "high-profile" arrests. It's their way of getting the most "bang for the buck". (ie who cares of Joe Nobody is arrested, but Matt Grothe?)

I don't doubt that the agency does conduct other arrests, but you make it sound as if there is a huge dragnet of arrests in the area and Matt was picked up as part of a larger operation.  I don't think this was the case (unless you have proof?)

And believe me, as a Libertarian, I'm not fan of "victimless crimes," so I think the charges are bogus anyway. Perhaps there are some MADD lobbyists partially to blame, but mostly we can thank those politicians who believe they can "legislate morality".

The bottom line is that I'm glad this happened.  It was relatively minor, and it teaches Matt (and other members of the team hopefully) the amount of scrutiny they're under, so hopefully they may avoid similar (more major) mistakes in the future.

Since it happened a week ago, I sincerely doubt it was done for a high-profile bust. It would have been leaked immediately by your theory.... plus, do you really think more than a handful of local law enforcement officers even know who he is? This isn't G'ville and Leak you're talking about.

And these sting type operations things DO occur on a regularbasis to try and catch people selling liquor to minors.

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Since it happened a week ago, I sincerely doubt it was done for a high-profile bust. It would have been leaked immediately by your theory.... plus, do you really think more than a handful of local law enforcement officers even know who he is? This isn't G'ville and Leak you're talking about.

And these sting type operations things DO occur on a regularbasis to try and catch people selling liquor to minors.

Good points, actually.

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It happened right down the street on the same night to the Citgo and Shell stations at the Fowler/56th intersection. A couple of clerks lost their jobs, one of whom got arrested, the other just cited. The one that got arrested got a warning, and then they came back later in the night and got him again.

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I feel bad for Matt that some low-life federal agency wanted to make a name for itself by harassing a college football player.

Actually, it was a state agency...but your point is still valid. I can't help but wonder if he was being "targeted" so they could get a high-profile bust. Actually, I don't wonder at all -- that is undoubtedly what happened.

You are kidding me right? ATF patrols all of the bars with the same tactics. Do you honestly believe they pick out high priority targets? Assuming they even care about Matt (which they dont)? Get real.

I kid you not my friend. You're talking to a certified gob'ment employee and I know how the system works.  Triple B's points (it was a week ago) and the fact there were strings of arrests in the same area/same time frame lead me to believe that this (perhaps) wasn't the case this time.  But you're asking if I think the govenrnment picks out high-visibility targets? Are you saying they don't, because I don't think you really want to go down that road.  Who are you again?

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not sure how you can turn this against MADD. It is a bartenders job to check the patrons i.d. If they didnt do these types of stings then bars would serve to every 18 yr old in the county with no fear of reprecussions. Until you form a lobby movement to change the legal drinking age to 18, it is 21. MADD is a great organization with a worthy cause.

MADD uses fear tactics to fiat laws on states. MADD is the reason the drinking age is 21. MADD is the reason the margin for DUI went from .15, to .12, to .10, to .08 in every state. MADD is singlehandedly ripping the rights of states to decide their own laws away from them.

I agree that fighting drunk driving is a good thing, but MADD uses tactics of federalism and fear to mandate laws to states, blackmailing them into passing absurd laws in order to keep their access to federal highway funding.

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Don’t change the subject. You agreed with grouper that the ATF would set up a special "sting" in order to obtain an high profile arrest (that being matt grothe). That is undoubtedly not what happen.

Certified govt employee, congrats. I'm assuming you also think that because you have 343 post, all of your statements have more credibility then mine.

Back to my point, ATF makes bust like these every night, its nothing special. ATF are regulars at all the bars scenes in tally, with arrest nightly. Were they targeting some big wigs as well? What about all of my acquaintances who have been or know someone who has been arrested by the ATF? They hot shots too? Fact is there is no way in hell for you to "undoubtfully" decide the arresting agency picked out grothe in order to boost their image.

Hang on a second now.. i didn't say that they setup a special bust or anything of the sort.  All I suggested was that had it not been Matt, he wouldn't have been arrested.  Maybe I am wrong or maybe there is more to this story.  I think someone posted earlier back that they also busted two gas stations, both employees received warnings, and one was arrested when they busted him a second time the same day (now he definitely deserved that).

I am certain that someone told the officers at the establishment who this guy was, if they didn't already know.  Perhaps they felt like they needed to arrest him to avoid any appearance of favoritism.  It is just unfortunate if this was a simple mistake.  

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Arrests like this are pointless. This law is broken in every college atmosphere basically every night but it's whenever the agencies decide they need more money hence pointless arrests like this. I have never agreed with the drinking age being 21 in the first place. At 18 you can go to Iraq, well **** you should be able to buy a beer.

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