(a) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who purchases, consumes, sells, possesses or serves nonintoxicating beer is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed five hundred dollars ($500.00) or shall be incarcerated in the County Jail for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours, or both fined and imprisoned, or, in lieu of such fine and incarceration, may, for the first offense, be placed on probation for a period not to exceed one year.
Nothing in this article, nor any rule or regulation of the State Alcohol Beverage Control Commissioner, shall prevent or be deemed to prohibit any person who is at least eighteen years of age from serving in the lawful employment of any licensee, which may include the sale or delivery of nonintoxicating beer as defined in this article. Further, nothing in this article, nor any rule or regulation of said Commissioner, shall prevent or be deemed to prohibit any person who is less than eighteen but at least sixteen years of age from being employed by a licensee whose principal business is the sale of food or consumer goods or the providing of recreational activities, including, but not limited to, nationally franchised fast food outlets, family-oriented restaurants, bowling alleys, drug stores, discount stores, grocery stores and convenience stores; provided, that such person shall not sell or deliver nonintoxicating beer.
Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit a person who is at least eighteen years of age from purchasing or possessing nonintoxicating beer when he or she is acting upon the request of or under the direction and control of any member of a state, federal or local law enforcement agency or the West Virginia Alcohol Beverage Administration while the agency is conducting an investigation or other activity relating to the enforcement of the alcohol beverage control statutes and the rules and regulations of said Commissioner.
(b) Any person under the age of twenty-one years who, for the purpose of purchasing nonintoxicating beer, misrepresents his or her age, or who for such purpose presents or offers any written evidence of age which is false, fraudulent or not actually his or her own, or who illegally attempts to purchase nonintoxicating beer, is guilty of a misdemeanor, and, upon conviction thereof, shall be fined in an amount not to exceed fifty dollars ($50.00) or shall be imprisoned in the County Jail for a period not to exceed seventy-two hours, or both such fine and imprisonment, or, in lieu of such fine and imprisonment, may, for the first offense, be placed on probation for a period not exceeding one year.
(c) Any person who shall knowingly buy for, give to or furnish nonintoxicating beer to anyone under the age of twenty-one to whom they are not related by blood or marriage is guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars($100.00) or shall be imprisoned in the County Jail for a period not to exceed ten days, or both such fine and imprisonment.
(d) Any person who at any one time transports into the State for their personal use, and not for resale, more than six and seventy-five hundredths gallons of nonintoxicating beer, upon which the West Virginia barrel tax has not been imposed, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in an amount not to exceed one hundred dollars ($100.00) and have all the untaxed nonintoxicating beer in their possession at the time of the arrest confiscated, or imprisoned for ten days in the County Jail, or both fined and imprisoned.
If the Congress of the United States repeals the mandate established by the Surface Transportation Assistance Act of 1982 relating to national uniform drinking age of twenty-one as found in section six of Public Law 98-363, or a court of competent jurisdiction declares the provision to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, it is the intent of Council, that the provisions contained in this section which prohibit the sale, furnishing, giving, purchase or ownership of nonintoxicating beer to or by a person who is less than twenty-one years of age shall be null and void and the provisions therein shall thereafter remain in effect and apply to the sale, furnishing, giving, purchase or ownership of nonintoxicating beer to or by a person who is less than nineteen years of age.
(Ord. 98-17. Passed 6-15-98.)