The authorities are more clever than we think.

WRIC: Oregon store owner claims underage decoy was scantily dressed

HAUSER, Ore. Can the way a customer is dressed cause a store clerk to break the law? That's what a store owner in Oregon is claiming after being fined because one of his clerks sold beer to an underage decoy.

David Cardwell tells the state liquor control commission the woman was dressed in "very provocative clothing" that's "more suited for the bedroom."

The clerk says he was distracted and didn't see the "Minor until 2007" stamped on the woman's driver's license.

A liquor control agent says the decoy was wearing a tank top. He says the clerk simply wasn't paying attention.

There are tank tops and then there are little frilly thingees that kinda look like tank tops but are much more interesting.

Cardwell says he'll close his store for a week rather than pay the 13-hundred dollar fine, insisting the clerk was properly trained.

Is there a lesson to be learned from this, boys? You bet. If a hot babe flirts with you while trying to buy beer from you, she's lying.