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185875 Original to City Clerk 185875 • CITY OF ST. PAUL COUNCIL NO. LiCEN&SE coNlM1`tTEE OFFICE OF THE CITY CLERK COUNCIL RESOLUTI N-GENERAL FORM PRESENTED BY � !�6°'G6 January 21, 1958 COMMISSIONER DATE RESOLVED: That Off Sale Liquor License No. 1592, and Foodstuff-Original Container and Off Sale Nalt Beverage Licenses No. 1247, all expiring January 31, 1958, issued to Geraldine M. Rigali at 194'; University avenue be and the same are hereby revoked upon the recommendation of the Bureau of Police because of the arrest of the licensee, Geraldine M. Rigali on the charge of sale of liquor (strong beer) to a minor, being sent to court thereon, Found. guilty thereto and sentenced to $100.00 fine or 10 days, paying said fine. Council File No. 185875—By Severin A. Mortinson—Robert F. Peterson— Resolved, That Off Sale Liquor Li- cense No. 1592, and Foodstuff-Original Container and Off Sale Malt Beverage Licenses No. 1247, all expiring January 31, 1958, issued to Geraldine M. Rigali at 1944 University Avenue be and the same are hereby revoked upon the recommendation of the Bureau of Police because of the arrest of the licensee, Geraldine M. Rigali on the charge of sale of liquor(strong beer) to a minor,being sent to court thereon, /10 Found guilty thereto and sentenced to $100.00 fine or 10 days, paying said fine. Adopted by the Council January 23, 1958. REVOCATION Approved January 23, 1958. 'C//y ' (January 25, 1958) J i 2 81958 COUNCILMEN Adopted by the Council 195_ Yeas Nays DeCourcy„. Holland Approved JAN 2 8 1958 195- liDiEGODE Mortinson- Tn Favor �e Peterson Mayor Rosen caNKIUEL Against Mr. President, Dillon 5M 6.56 `^ 2 January 17, 1958 The Honorable the City Council City of St. Paul Court House St. Paul 2, Minnesota Gentlemen and Madam: Re: Geraldine Rigali License Hearing Mrs. Geraldine Rigali was convicted of the crime of selling liquor to a minor before the Honorable Leonard Keyes, Judge of the Municipal Court, on a trial heard Wednesday, October 30, 1957, and finally decided on January 14, 1958. The following facts appeared at the time of the trial with regard to the violation: Commencing in March 1957, or thereabouts, the complaining witness, Jeanne Louise 'Winger, a minor of 17 years of age, 1148 Charles Avenue, St. Paul, Minnesota, commenced purchasing beer and liquor at defendant 's Midway Liquor Store of which defendant Geraldine Rigali is the licensee and proprietor. Thereafter the Winger girl, hereafter referred to as 'Winger", made purchases at irregular intervals until the early part of October, at which time she purchased liquor for a young people 's party held at Island nark in rural Ramsey County. This party was broken up by the arrival of Ramsey County Deputy Sher- iffs and a determination was made that the source of the liquor was through the complaining witness Jeanne Winger. The matter was then turned over to the St. Paul Police Department, and on the afternoon of October 7, 1957 the complaining witness, accompanied by St. Paul Detectives Harkins and Martin went to defendant's Midway Liquor Store and caused a purchase to be made with marked money, which is the basis of the complaint in the instant case. The Winger girl is a large, well-proportioned girl employed in the Savings Bank Department of the First National Bank. She is 5'8/z" inches tall in her stocking feet and 5'11" in her heels, which she usually wore, and weighed upwards of 130 pounds. During the time of the various purchases at the Midway Liquor Store her hair was brown, blond and an auburn color, resulting from her having received various tinting or dying treatments to her hair. She had prev- iously been employed as secretary-receptionist for an employment agency, at Montgomery Ward & Co. , and The Emporium Department Store in St. Paul. She smoked on most occasions when she purchased liquor, including the instance in which she was accompanied by the two detectives; she stated she never had any trouble buying cigarettes, except at the corner store where they knew her. Her physical dimensions or proportions are 36"-21"-36". Her hair was custom- arily arranged in the latest type of Italian style hairdo and done by profess- ional beauticians. She wears liprouge and little other makeup. She frequently was dressed in high heels and hose, earrings and fashionable type clothing, in- cluding the instant case. On her first visit to the Midway Liquor Store her age was inquired into and she was refused a purchase, due to insufficient identification, al- though she then had with her a birth certificate which showed her name to be Marlene Audrey Elizabeth Martineau, and 22 years of age. Upon being asked whether or not it was her birth certificate she jokingly replied, "No, it's my father's". All of her visits to the store were made by automobile and on most occasions she was driving, although she testified that she had no driver's license; according to her testimony, she would drive only from the alley into the parking area at the rear of the store for purposes of heightening the im- pression that she was of legal age to purchase beer and whiskey. She also presented a driver 's license in the Martineau name and the signature on the driver 's license was identical to the signature she gave for comparison pur- poses at the liquor store when being checked for further identification. The physical description on the driver's license as to height, weight, color of eyes and color of hair matched her physical description and matched the name on the birth certificate which she had previously shown. She disputed the testimony as to driver's license, denying she had any driver's license, al- though the defendant and defense witnesses, Frank Ciresi and Donald O'Shaughnessey, all testified that she did produce a driver's license for purposes of identifi- cation. The customary procedure of identification of suspected minors by defendant and employees was to require identification from at least two sources, i.e. , in the case of boys, an I.D. card and driver's license, or, in the case of girls, a birth certificate and driver's license. This procedure was followed in the instant case, together with a comparison of a sample signature made by the complaining witness in the presence of the defendant and defense witness Frank Ciresi. The record shows that defendant and her husband (presently deceased) before her had been licensed in the liquor business at this location since repeal in 1934. There have been no records of convictions in this loca- tion at any time since 1934, and no complaints with the exception of a complaint -2- in 1954, which complaint was investigated by the Morals Squad of the City of St. Paul and found to be without foundation. The complaining witness' parents both testified they were unaware of her drinking habits and the fact that she had a birth certificate in her poss- ession issued in the name of a person other than herself, showing her to be of legal age, for purposes of purchasing whiskey. The complaining witness testi- fied she had obtained this birth certificate about a year previous to the time of trial and had obtained it for the specific purpose of falsifying her age for purposes of purchasing whiskey and other intoxicating beverages. She re- fused or was unable to recall the means and method of obtaining this birth cer- tificate and testified she was not acquainted with the person for whom the birth certificate was issued. The birth certificate was introduced in evidence by the defense and showed it to be a photostatic copy of a birth certificate certified to by the proper authorities in 1953. The driver's license was not produced in evidence and the birth certificate was obtained by the Police De- partment demanding that the parents of the complaining witness bring her purse down to the County jail, and at this time the birth certificate was discovered in the complaining witness' purse. At that time she admitted having used the birth certificate for purposes of making illegal purchases of liquor, although denying having or using the driver's license as aforesaid. At the time of the hearing on January 14, 1756, the Honorable Judge Keyes stated in ordering sentence that` he was satisfied from all of the testi- mony presented at the time of the trial that defendant, Geraldine Rigali, was not guilty of any intent to violate the law,'ut as the law now stands (this was a prosecution under City Ordinance) all that is necessary to establish facts sufficient for a conviction are to establish the fact that the defendant did in fact make a sale and the purchaser was in fact a minor. Thus, under the rule of law enunciated by Judge Keyes regardless of the care taken by a proprietor of a liquor establishment in attempting to determine the age of a purchaser, if the purchaser is in fact a minor the proprietor is guilty of a violation of the law. The Court held that this is true even though the pur- chaser uses false identification and otherwise deceives the proprietor so as to convince him that he is in fact eligible to make the purchase. The ordinance under these cases, being Ordinance No. 30d.14 of the -3- - Compiled `)rdinances of the City of St. Paul of 1956, the requirement of a hearing before any action is taken shows an intent on the part of the City Council by the adoption of this Ordinance that all of the facts are to be taken into consideration before any revocation is made. It is respectfully submitted that inasmuch as Mrs. Rigali has al- ready been caused to pay $100.00 fine as a result of this technical violation of the City Ordinance, the fact that the Judge stated at the time of his sen- tencing that he was convinced that she did not have any intent to violate the law and in light of all of the circumstances as set forth in the statement of facts above, are a proper basis for the Council finding that a revocation would not be proper in the instant case. Respectfully submitted, BOUTHILET, DAUBNEY & SWENSON - f BY at, 4 4 (,s , ASV/ -soh, E. iaubney � .�ttor -y for "Mrs. Geraldine Ri:zli 100 'ioneer Building et:._ 'aul 1, Minnesota