Less than an hour from now, the Cheshire Police Department will be setting up roadside sobriety checkpoints along state roads in town.

But even in the hours leading up to the the checkpoint, the department has been very visible. At about 2 p.m. this afternoon, I saw a department trick loaded down with traffic cones and all the other equipment needed to set up a checkpoint sitting on Cornwall Avenue, near the intersection with Main Street.

The department will be running sobriety checkpoints through 2 a.m. on Sunday, according to Lt. Brian Pichnarcik, who is the head of the department's traffic division.

Pichnarcik said in a statement that crashes involving alcohol drop by an average of 20 percent when checkpoints are conducted. Cheshire officers will be enforcing seat belt, cellphone and other motor vehicle violations at the checkpoint in addition to looking for alcohol and drug-impaired drivers, he said.

Not quite sure what to make of the latest results of the Connecticut Division of Liquor Control's routine compliance checks of Cheshire stores and whether they properly card minors seeking to buy beer.

Seven of the 12 package and grocery stores in Cheshire failed the compliance checks conducted over Memorial Day weekend by the Division of Liquor Control and the Cheshire Police Department. That means they allegedly sold liquor to a volunteer minor trained and provide by the Governor's Prevention Partnership.

The stores that failed the compliance checks were:

- Everybody's Market (shown at left).
- Cheshire Spirit House.
- Southend Spirits.
- Super Wines and Liquor.
- Sunshine Convenience.
- Mountaintop Liquor.
- Townline Discount Wine and Liquor.

The seven stores are charged with allegedly selling liquor to a minor and will be brought before the Liquor Control Commission for an administrative hearing, at which time the charges will be addressed. The commission is part of the state Department of Consumer Protection.


“Providing alcohol to minors is a serious breach of our permitees’ obligations and that rate of failure is abysmal," Consumer Protection Commissioner William Rubenstein said in a statement. " We will take steps to assure that violators modify their procedures in order to comply with State law.”