Posted on: Friday, August 23, 2002

Florist fined $500 for selling wine to minor in sting operation

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

A second Honolulu florist has been fined by the Honolulu Liquor Commission for selling alcohol to a minor.

Sweet Leilani Florist on Dillingham Boulevard was charged with selling a bottle of wine as part of a floral arrangement on March 30 to a girl who was under 21 years old. Yesterday, company treasurer Kerry Ko pleaded no contest to the charge and was fined $500.

But the store was given a break by the commission, which was asked by city Deputy Corporation Counsel Debi Tulang-DeSilva to fine the company $1,000. On Aug. 8, the commission fined Beretania Florist $1,000 after being found guilty of a similar offense.

Ko asked the four commissioners for a reduced fine and explained that Sweet Leilani Florist has since allowed the liquor license to lapse.

"So this won't happen again," Ko said.

In most cases, the commission will issue a $1,000 fine for first-time offenses of selling liquor to minors to send a message to the business owner. But with no license, Sweet Leilani is out of the liquor business.

Ko said Sweet Leilani got the license because customers had requested bottles of wine or champagne with their floral arrangements. Those requests, however, did not result in actual sales, he said.

"Not that many people inquired any more after we got the license. We used to have to turn them down," Ko said. He added that total sales were "probably less than I can count on my hands."

Ko was the salesman on duty March 30 when a girl walked into the shop and asked if alcohol was sold. Ko said yes and the girl picked a bottle of wine to go with a single rose, an arrangement that Ko said cost $15.

But Ko said he failed to check the girl's identification, which would have showed that she was not old enough to buy alcohol. The girl was part of the sting operation called Project Pau, in which youths under 21 are sent to stores to buy alcoholic beverages. The youths are accompanied by Honolulu police officers and investigators from the Liquor Commission.

Ko said liquor sales didn't account for even a small percentage of the florist's business, and he said the $15 sale was "definitely not worth the $500 fine."