Underage drinkers are starting to get the hint — they are not wanted in the bars. Along with the police, the bars are cracking down on underage drinkers passing through their doors. Tony Shepherd, general manager of Sips and Paddy’s Bar, 124 Welch Ave., said all of the bars came together as a unit along with the city to buckle down on underage drinkers. The city attorney decided last summer any bar with more than 12 violations wouldn’t get its liquor license renewed. This caused the bars in campustown to put more focus on underage drinkers and fake IDs. The bars started with the doormen. Sips and Paddy’s; People’s Bar and Grill, 2430 Lincoln Way, Cy’s Roost, 121 Welch Ave., and Dean’s List, 2552 Chamberlain St., all send their doormen to a weekly class training for spotting fake IDs the Ames police hold every Thursday night. Sgt. Mike Johns, detective sergeant for special operations at the Ames Police Department, said bar employees are instructed how to look at IDs, how it should look and the certain characteristics that should be on them. Johns said the classes were developed on the initiative of the local bar owners to train their employees so they could have something to fall back on when it was time for liquor license renewal.Tim Wilcoxson, assistant manager of People’s, said the problem should not be taken lightly. “It’s not good business to have the cops pull out 10 underage drinkers a night,” he said. When Cy’s Roost had to shut down its doors for two months this past fall, all of the employees were out of a job. “We had one instance, and it bit us,” said Mike Corbin, kitchen manager at Cy’s Roost. “You’re affecting our livelihood. Us getting shut down for two months affected everyone that worked here.” The bars are recognizing their employees for the extra effort, especially the doormen. Andrew Diercksen, general manager of the Dean’s List, said they don’t use incentives, but the doormen are the highest paid employees in the bar. At Sip’s and Paddy’s, the doormen are given bonuses based on the time they worked and the number of fakes confiscated. Wilcoxson said around Ames there are not as many altered or fake IDs, but when minors try to use someone else’s ID, Corbin said they first check out the date, height and picture. If they are suspicious, then eye color is checked. At the Dean’s List, patrons might have to sign their name to check the signature. “The biggest tip off anymore is no hologram,” Corbin said. The bars have taken extra measures in equipment to spot fakes as well. Shepherd said Sips now has cameras at the door to make sure the doormen are checking the IDs closely. Cy’s Roost put in a black light at the door to make it easier for the doormen to spot the hologram.