(A) For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly requires a different meaning.
ESTABLISHMENT. A business, firm, enterprise, service or fraternal organization, club, institution, entity, group or residence, and any real property, including buildings and improvements, connected therewith, and shall also include any members, employees and occupants associated therewith.
ETHYL ALCOHOL. Any substance which is or contains ethyl alcohol.
POSSESSION OF ETHYL ALCOHOL. A person has or holds any amount of ethyl alcohol anywhere on his or her person, or that a person owns or has custody of ethyl alcohol or has ethyl alcohol within his or her immediate presence and control.
PRIVATE PROPERTY. Any dwelling and its curtilage which is being used by a natural person or natural persons for habitation and which is not open to the public, and privately-owned real property which is not open to the public. PRIVATE PROPERTY shall not include:
(a) Any establishment which has or is required to have a license pursuant to C.R.S. Title 44, Art. 3;
(b) Any establishment which sells ethyl alcohol or upon which ethyl alcohol is sold; or
(c) Any establishment which leases, rents or provides accommodations to members of the public generally.
(B) It shall be unlawful for any person under the age of 21 years to possess or consume ethyl alcohol anywhere within the town. It shall further be unlawful for any person under the age of 21 years to consume alcohol outside of the town limits who has been found within the town while manifesting any of the characteristics commonly associated with ethyl alcohol intoxication or impairment. Illegal possession or consumption of alcohol by an underage person is a strict liability offense.
(C) It shall be an affirmative defense to the offense described in this section that the ethyl alcohol was possessed or consumed by a person under 21 years of age under the following circumstances:
(1) While such person was legally upon private property with the knowledge and consent of the owner or legal possessor of such private property and the ethyl alcohol was possessed or consumed with the consent of such person’s parent or legal guardian who was present during such possession or consumption; or
(2) When the existence of ethyl alcohol in a person’s body was due solely to the ingestion of a confectionery which contained ethyl alcohol within the limits prescribed by C.R.S. § 25-5-410(1)(i)(11) or the ingestion of any substance which was manufactured, designed or intended primarily for a purpose other than oral human ingestion, or the ingestion of any substance which was manufactured, designed or intended solely for medicinal or hygienic purposes, or solely from the ingestion of a beverage which contained less than 0.5% of ethyl alcohol by weight.
(3) The possession or consumption of ethyl alcohol shall not constitute a violation of this subchapter if such possession or consumption takes place for religious purposes protected by the first amendment to the United States Constitution.
(D) Prima facie evidence of a violation shall consist of:
(1) Evidence that the defendant was under the age of 21 years and possessed or consumed ethyl alcohol anywhere in the town; or
(2) Evidence that the defendant was under the age of 21 years and manifested any of the characteristics commonly associated with ethyl alcohol intoxication or impairment while present anywhere in the town.
(E) During any trial for a violation of division (B) above, any bottle, can, or any other container with labeling indicating the contents of such bottle, can or container shall be admissible into evidence, and the information contained on any label on such bottle, can or other container shall be admissible into evidence and shall not constitute hearsay. A jury or a judge, whichever is appropriate, may consider the information upon such label in determining whether the contents of the bottle, can or other container were composed in whole or in part of ethyl alcohol. A label which identifies the contents of any bottle, can, or other container as “beer”, “ale”, “malt beverage”, “fermented malt beverage”, “malt liquor”, “wine”, “wine cooler”, “champagne”, “whiskey” or “whisky”, “gin”, “vodka”, “tequila”, “schnapps”, “brandy”, “cognac”, “liqueur”, “cordial”, “alcohol” or “liquor” shall constitute prima facie evidence that the contents of the bottle, can or other container were composed in whole or in part of ethyl alcohol.
(F) A parent or legal guardian of a person under 21 years of age may give, or permit the possession and consumption of, ethyl alcohol to or by a person under the age of 21 years under the conditions described in division (C)(1) above. This division (F) shall not be construed to permit any establishment which is or is required to be licensed pursuant to the state’s Beer Code, state’s Liquor Code or the provisions of C.R.S. Title 12, Art. 48, or any members, employees or occupants of any such establishment, to give, provide, make available or sell ethyl alcohol to a person under 21 years of age.
(G) Nothing in this section shall be construed to limit or preclude prosecution for any offense pursuant to any other applicable law or ordinance.
(H) The qualitative result of an alcohol test or tests shall be admissible at the trial of any person charged with a violation of division (B) above upon a showing that the device or devices used to conduct such test or tests have been approved as accurate in detecting alcohol by the executive director of the Department of Health.
(I) During any trial for a violation of this section, the Court shall take judicial notice of methods of testing a person’s blood, breath, saliva or urine for the presence of alcohol and of the operation of devices certified by the Department of Health for testing a person’s blood, breath, saliva or urine for the presence of alcohol. This division (I) shall not prevent the necessity of establishing during a trial that the testing devices were working properly and that such testing devices were properly operated. Nothing in this division (I) shall preclude a defendant from offering evidence concerning the accuracy of testing devices.
(J) No law enforcement officer shall enter upon any private property to investigate any violation of this section without reasonable suspicion.
(Ord. 5.04.090, Series 2003, passed 6-16-2003) Penalty, see § 110.99