ARRESTS CLIMB WITH STRICTER LIQUOR-LAW ENFORCEMENT BUT FALSE IDS MEAN HEADACHES.(Local)

Byline: Ken Thurman Staff writer

More bartenders, tavern owners and sales clerks who sell alcohol to minors are facing stiff fines and time in jail under stepped-up enforcement of the state's liquor and liability laws.

Capital District police agencies also report more minors are using identification cards with altered birth dates to buy alcohol - especially since New York raised the purchase age to 21 on Dec. 1, 1985.

The result is a lot of very worried liquor retailers and bar owners.

"Somehow we're supposed to know that they're under age," said John DiNuzzo, owner of Thirsty's bar in Albany. "If you looked at the Miss Universe pageant on TV the other night, any of those girls could have passed for 25 - without a doubt, but most were 18, 19 or 20."

The identification card, DiNuzzo said, is really the only way bars and liquor retailers have to determine a customer's age.

Figures from the State Liquor Authority show 566 holders of liquor licenses were charged in 1986 with unlawfully selling or serving alcohol to minors, up by about 20 …