Alcoholic Beverages

City parks have always been a place where a family can spread out a blanket, pass around the sandwiches and soft drinks and uncork a chilled bottle of white wine for the adults. But under a law to be considered Tuesday by the City Council, anyone wanting to swig a beer or nurse a glass of wine would need a city permit.

A store owner caught by police surveillance selling alcoholic beverages to minors was sentenced Thursday to 45 days in jail after pleading no contest to misdemeanor charges, authorities said. Jerzy Slusarczyk, 47, of Panorama City was sentenced after pleas to two counts of selling alcoholic beverages to a minor and one count of creating a public nuisance, said Mike Qualls, a spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney's office.

Like other service stations in the city, the Thrifty Oil Co. will take an appeal to the City Council on Tuesday in an effort to sell alcoholic beverages at a gas station mini-mart. The city's Planning Commission, as it traditionally has done, denied Thrifty's application to sell alcoholic beverages at its 2801 W. Lincoln Ave. station and the company is appealing the decision to the council.

The American Advertising Federation is lobbying San Francisco-area legislators today to oppose content restrictions on billboard advertising. The group hopes to stem a growing trend of local governments slapping limits on the use of outdoor advertising for alcoholic beverages and tobacco products. AAF officials argue that government-imposed restrictions on "truthful advertising" are unconstitutional and violate the right to free speech.

It's not just the content that has some health experts concerned about commercials for alcoholic beverages. It's where the commercials are placed. Researchers Joel Grube and Patricia Madden suggest in a new study that ads for alcoholic beverages--particularly beer--reach even more kids when they are sandwiched during televised sporting events.

Johnson & Johnson said it will add a warning about alcohol use to the label for its painkiller Motrin and modify the painkiller Tylenol's label, which already warns about complications when used in conjunction with alcohol. The revised labels meet recent proposals from the Food and Drug Administration, said New Brunswick, N.J.-based Johnson & Johnson, the world's fifth-biggest drug maker, according to IMS Health Inc., a health-care industry research firm.

The Deukmejian Administration, in a move that would help the liquor industry to avoid putting warning labels on alcoholic beverage containers, is proposing instead that signs be posted in liquor stores, bars and restaurants to warn that drinking during pregnancy can cause birth defects.

The percentage of teenage girls who drink alcoholic beverages is rising faster than that of boys, and on average, the girls take their first drink at age 13, the American Medical Assn. has reported. In announcing the findings of two surveys, the AMA contended earlier this month that a class of beverages informally known as "alcopops" is partly to blame. The group is warning doctors to educate teenagers about the dangers of such sweet drinks.