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Jan. 3 was like most Wednesday nights at Copper Lounge. Appetizers were $3. There were a handful of beer specials.

The doorman was snowed in at home, but Angel Salas was behind the bar, like most Wednesday nights.

A block away down Central Avenue, two state alcohol-enforcement agents were watching a man drink at another bar, Coaches Sports Grill.

They didn't see him buy any beers at Coaches, but they believed he was drunk. And pretty soon they were following him down the street toward Copper Lounge, where Salas' decision to serve a single beer would put a serious hitch in her bartending career.

As state agencies have shifted gears to pursue Gov. Bill Richardson's zero tolerance policy on drunken driving, agents from the Special Investigations Division of the state Department of Public Safety have taken on an increased role across New Mexico.

The number of citations issued statewide for selling alcohol to a minor or an intoxicated person has risen dramatically, from 44 in 2001 to 252 in 2006, according to figures provided by the Alcohol and Gaming Division of the state Regulation and Licensing Department.

Citations for serving to an intoxicated person jumped from 11 five years ago to 126 last year, when 30 of those citations were issued to Albuquerque-area establishments - most of them bars.

From the Hotel Albuquerque in Old Town to Hooters, the list of establishments that were issued citations last year reads like a phone book of area watering holes. But Jan. 3 was Copper Lounge's night.

At Coaches, one of the SID agents, a trainee, had noticed the man displaying signs of intoxication, Department of Public Safety spokesman Peter Olson said.

"The agent noticed that the subject spilled some of his beer on himself while attempting to drink it," Olson said.

The agents talked to the man, who told them he had a designated driver, which the agents were able to confirm. He finished his beer and, perhaps spooked by the company, walked out toward Copper Lounge.

The agents followed.

Citations for serving intoxicated people have gotten a lot of attention over the past two months. US Airways and a Bernalillo convenience store were cited after DPS says each sold alcohol to an intoxicated Dana Papst. Papst crashed while driving drunk on the wrong side of I-25 north of Santa Fe, killing himself and five members of a Las Vegas, N.M., family.

The state began focusing on bars because studies show that about half the people arrested for drunk driving recently left a licensed liquor-serving establishment, Alcohol and Gaming Division director Gary Tomada said.

But often, citations are issued in cases that don't involve drunken driving or any other kind of illegal behavior by drinkers.

The situation that confronted Angel Salas on Jan. 3, when a man walked into her bar after drinking somewhere else, is far from unusual, officials say.

"Bar-hopping is very common," Tomada said. "If the guy just walked into the bar and the server didn't take the time to talk to him and look for the signs (of intoxication), it's that server's fault."

But other circumstances surrounding the citation were also common for bartenders.

"We had just gotten slammed," Salas remembered. "I checked his ID, talked to him for a minute, and got him his beer. He didn't seem drunk at all to me."

The man took his drink back to the bar's pool room, and the two agents approached the bar. Salas, 26, got a citation for serving an intoxicated person.

That citation means she's headed to Metro Court, likely as soon as next month.

The legal proceedings against servers cited by the state can take two forms. Salas was charged a misdemeanor criminal count, which carries a $1,000 fine if she's convicted.

Servers are often also cited administratively, which can result in a $500 fine and suspension of their serving license.

Salas said she'll likely be fired if she's convicted, but says she can beat the charge. The agents didn't do a breath test of the man they claim was drunk, and he has told the bar he'll testify that he wasn't. She talked to a lawyer Wednesday, Salas said. He told her he'd represent her, for $2,000.

"I'm not sure what I'm going to do," she said. "I don't want to lose my job, but $2,000 is a lot of money."

Olson said the SID agents often ask drinkers involved in citations to submit to a voluntary breath test to help the state make its case. But the state often just relies on agents to testify about the signs of intoxication they witnessed.

"If the person doesn't want to take a breath test, it's no big deal," he said.

Many in the alcohol-serving community say that leaves the state with a low bar to substantiate its allegations while bartenders face almost impossibly high expectations.

"Our bartenders are supposed to be bartenders first, then psychiatrists, and now police officers," said the manager of one Downtown bar, who asked not to be identified. "It keeps me up at night worrying."

Marcos Otero, owner of Central Market, a Downtown liquor store, said the only solution he sees is an extreme one.

"In any bar, a lot of the people in there are over the legal limit," he said. "That's why people go to a bar, to get intoxicated. The only way you can really eliminate it is to put a breathalyzer on the bar, and that would be the end of the bar."

But state officials, touting signs that New Mexico may be turning the corner on one of its signature problems, say they don't plan to ease up on bartenders, whether their patrons plan to drive home, walk home or call a cab.

"Bartenders better know what they're doing when they accept the responsibility of serving a controlled substance," Tomada said. "If they don't want to accept it, they better find a new profession."