The state agency that governs liquor sales in Oregon wants retailers in Bend to shape up when it comes to selling liquor to minors. Last month, the Oregon Liquor Control Commission ran a sting operation. Employees at more than half of the fourteen Bend businesses tested, were observed selling alcohol to an undercover minor volunteer.

Christie Scott is a spokeswoman with OLCC: “What we want to see that people are taking the time to look at a license, make sure that the person who’s presenting the ID is indeed 21 and that it is their ID and that we’re refusing to sell alcohol to minors.”

She says Bend’s 43 percent compliance rate is well below the 2011 statewide average of 76 percent.

Scott says retailers who are caught selling to minors can face host of sanctions – ranging from a thousand dollar fine all the way to the loss of a liquor license.

This story originally appeared on Oregon Public Broadcasting.