Chattanooga police are planning another compliance check to find Riverbend Festival vendors who sell alcohol to underage patrons after the first check resulted in one violation.

Meanwhile, Friends of the Festival plans to continue internal compliance checks even after its executive director says police improperly stopped them from doing so earlier this week.

“It just seems like every effort is being made to catch us, not help us,” Chip Baker said. “It’s really quite upsetting.”

On Saturday, the Knights of Columbus booth checked the ID of an 18-year-old girl, gave her a bracelet allowing her to drink, then let her purchase beer, police said. The underage buyer was working with the Chattanooga Police Department to check for violations.

The buyer also showed her ID at the U.S. Navy Reservist tent and was given a bracelet, but the beer seller double-checked the ID and refused the sale, police said.

“We’re very pleased with the results of this one,” said Officer John Collins, who works with the Chattanooga Police Department regulatory bureau. “We’re also very pleased with the double-checking that occurred at one vendor.”

Officer Collins said it seemed as though the extra training and measures Riverbend officials went to paid off.

Friends of the Festival employees also conducted a compliance check Saturday, but they were told by Officer Collins that such checks were illegal.

“What upsets me about this is that we’re trying to be proactive and he’s shutting us down,” said Mr. Baker, who also said he was unaware of the underage selling violation found by police on Saturday.

After consulting with an attorney, Mr. Baker said he will continue the checks because state law allows merchants in the business of selling alcohol to have someone under 21 try to purchase alcohol if he or she is aiding the enforcement of laws and policies with regard to selling to underage patrons.

“We’re as vigilant as ever,” Mr. Baker said. “We’re as trained as ever. We just don’t have any room for error.”

The internal checks revealed no problems, he said. He also said he heard about one vendor who refused to sell beer to a 60-year-old man with an expired license.

Officer Collins said state law prohibits anyone under 21 from trying to buy alcohol unless they’re aiding law enforcement.

Friends of the Festival, which has not yet been cited for the underage selling violation, will appear before the beer board at a later date, as well as a representative of the Knights of Columbus.

This year, each vendor signed an agreement saying that representatives would appear alongside Friends of the Festival personnel should anyone be cited to appear before the beer board.