How can you spot a fake ID? Decorahnews.com's Paul Scott gets some training

Last week at a beverage server's training session, I was able to look at around a dozen fake IDs.  Some of them were reasonably good fakes, but most of them made me think, "Did you really not expect someone to notice the glue lines on this ID?

Local police say they are working with bartenders, waitresses and convenience store clerks to make sure underage people don't buy alcohol.  So they passed along tips at the beverage server's training session on spotting fake IDs—tips that I probably shouldn't repeat.

Let me instead emphasize that local police want servers to check the IDs of nearly everyone who might be a minor.  When in doubt, the rule is that it's better to ask than to make a mistake.  As one waitress noted at the training session, "The older I get, the younger (my customers) look," so it's best to keep in mind, as Winneshiek County Sheriff's Deputy Tim Felton noted,  "you have the right to ID anyone."  Noted Helping Services for Northeast Iowa's Katie Bee, "The older people really like it when you ID them."