I live in southwest Virginia and usual make it up to a few games a year, have so my entire life. My entire family is Reds fan and it has been passed down through the years. Anyway, my 22nd birthday is Tuesday so my girlfriend, myself, and a few of our friends went up to the game today. Before the game started I purchased a beer, (no big deal) they asked for my ID I showed it, I shelled out the $7.25 and went on. Later in the day as I was finishing my beer I attempted to purchase another beer, server asked for ID, I showed, she says stop pouring the beer, he's got a bad ID! Evidently, because my ID is vertical (Virginia doesn't change it to horizontal until your first renewal after your 21st birthday, in my case when I'm 25 years old) it was illegal for me to possess, consume, or purchase any alcoholic beverage inside the park. News to me, I follow her to her manager who takes my ID, I stand there while she gives me a lecture about how I'm breaking stadium policy, she calls the stadium police (not sure if they are actual police or security maybe somebody knows?). We wait for 10-15 minutes, I ask for my ID back pledging to go sit down, watch the game, and not attempt to purchase any more beer (even though I'm of legal age). She doesn't go for that, the police show up, they hear the story, and the cop asks the beer manager if I should be ejected! She says I can stay if I point out who sold me the beer, I show the stand (after I told them I wouldn't because I didn't want the woman who sold it to lose her job, I thought she was ignorant of this ordinance just as I) they give me my ID tell me to go on my way. I then go by the guest services to file a complaint about how I was treated, and guess who shows up at my seat 2 innings later, the same beer manager along with the head of concessions, they basically just explain the law, claim that somebody could have bought the beer for me (which is legal due to my age by my understanding) and they did nothing to help the situation.
Who in the Reds can I e-mail about this? I live in 4 1/2 hours away and during my 13-14 hour day today I spent 1/3 of the game being harassed my GABP staff. How is this law/ordinance even legal? I went to Bengals games in the fall and purchased alcohol at free will, being ID'd each time last fall. It's obviously not a city ordinance. Anybody have an e-mail address I can send my story to or have answers to these questions?
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