Believing the IDs were fake, Van Lewen said the bouncer called the State College Police Department. The police came, frisked Van Lewen on Allen Street, sat him in back of a squad car and checked his ID, Van Lewen said. The police check revealed Van Lewen's ID was valid.
"I was treated like a criminal . . . it was a really disturbing incident," Van Lewen said.
Managers at Zeno's could not be reached for comment this weekend.
However, James Stuart, manager of the Phyrst, 111 E. Beaver Ave., said with the dependence businesses have on liquor licenses, thorough checks at the door and the demands for multiple IDs are necessary.
"Our entire business counts on having a liquor license. Protecting the liquor license is our first job . . . everything else is secondary," Stuart said.
Erik Shrom, the manager of Café 210 West, 210 W. College Ave., said the necessity of keeping the liquor license and the need to cooperate with town and university officials puts a lot of pressure on State College bars to do thorough checks.
"Sometimes we do our job a little too thoroughly . . . and sometimes that's a good thing," Shrom said.
Adding to the watchful eyes of the university and the town, the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board also keeps its eyes on Penn State University with its program called the Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, now in its second year.
The bureau keeps tabs on nine universities in Pennsylvania and advocates education and awareness of illegal drinking and binge drinking, also paying careful attention to the way owners use and operate their bar licenses.
The thorough checks by bar staff are justified, said Cpl. Timothy Sleeth of the State College Police Department. Most of the calls the department gets about a fake ID are valid, he said.
Chuck Smitley, manager of Crowbar, 420 E. College Ave., said that when the police are called to the bar that "more likely than not, it is a fake ID."
Brian Estep, the assistant manager of the Gingerbread Man, 130 Heister St., said that if one of the bar staff members believe an ID is fake, the police will be called and often, people will leave the scene once they're caught by staff — but sometimes that's not the case.
"If it's a fake ID and we say we're calling the cops, some people just stand there and wait for the cops to arrest them," Estep said.
Police procedure in dealing with a person suspected of having a fake ID includes placing them in a police vehicle, if the officer feels it's necessary, Sleeth said. Before placing them in the vehicle, however, the person must be patted down for safety precautions, he said.
"I would be angry if the officer didn't take precautions before putting someone in the car," Sleeth said.
Van Lewen, however, argues that the officer could have kept him near the car versus inside the vehicle. "In the question of a fake ID, there's no reason to suspect you of doing something wrong," Van Lewen said.
But according to the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board's codes, if a staff member sees a patron who could become a liability, the bar has the right not to serve the person.
Stuart said he was shown an ID with a picture that looked nothing like the patron Friday night.
"The picture didn't look anything like him," Stuart said. "So I just decided not to serve him."
Although some patrons may complain about bars' strict policies, employees say detecting fake IDs is becoming more difficult because of the increasingly realistic look of the fake IDs.
While some bars, including Crowbar, use scanners to detect fake IDs, most bars in State College stick to the annual ID checking guide that contains updated IDs from each state.
Aiming to make accurate calls about whether an ID is legal or not, Estep said the Gingerbread Man used scanners but stopped because of their lack of accuracy.
"We used to have one (scanner) but we got rid of it because it was more trouble than it was worth — it wasn't accurate," Estep said.
The scanner would say IDs were fraudulent when they were not and that many forms of ID had to be filled out with the machine when an illegal ID was discovered, Estep said.
When mistakes are made, Estep said all the bar really can do is apologize.
"We apologize if something like that does happen, but it's important to know everyone (inside the bar) is 21," Estep said.
Zeno's also tried to appease him, Van Lewen said. He was served a free beer for his trouble.
Send an 
