Here are your violations:
60-489 Operator's license; duty to carry and exhibit; exception; officers; power to demand presentation.
Except for a farm permit issued under section 60-4,126, the operator's license shall at all times be carried by the licensee when operating a motor vehicle on the highways of this state and shall be presented by the licensee for examination, or he or she shall present proof of ownership of the same, upon demand by any officer, employee, or agent of the Nebraska State Patrol or police or peace officer recognized as such by the laws of this state. Such officer, employee, or agent shall, in every case of making demand on the motor vehicle operator to show an operator's license, first display proper evidence of his or her lawful authority to act as an officer of the law. Except as provided in section 29-215, no officer, except an officer, agent, or employee of the Nebraska State Patrol, the Superintendent of Law Enforcement and Public Safety, the county sheriff, or their authorized deputies or subordinates, shall exercise the authority to demand presentation of an operator's license outside the boundaries of any incorporated cities and villages. A farm permit issued under section 60-4,126 need not be carried on the person but shall be produced for examination within twenty-four hours after a lawful demand therefor has been made under this section.
60-689 is a penalty section unrelated to an open container.
An open container is the following section which specifies that an open container in a vehicle even in a parking lot is prohibited:
60-6,211.08 Open alcoholic beverage container; consumption of alcoholic beverages; prohibited acts.
(1) For purposes of this section:
(a) Alcoholic beverage means (i) beer, ale porter, stout, and other similar fermented beverages, including sake or similar products, of any name or description containing one-half of one percent or more of alcohol by volume, brewed or produced from malt, wholly or in part, or from any substitute therefor, (ii) wine of not less than one-half of one percent of alcohol by volume, or (iii) distilled spirits which is that substance known as ethyl alcohol, ethanol, or spirits of wine in any form, including all dilutions and mixtures thereof from whatever source or by whatever process produced. Alcoholic beverage does not include trace amounts not readily consumable as a beverage;
(b) Highway means a road or street including the entire area within the right-of-way;
(c) Open alcoholic beverage container, except as provided in subsection (3) of section 53-123.04 and subdivision (1)(c) of section 53-123.11, means any bottle, can, or other receptacle:
(i) That contains any amount of alcoholic beverage; and
(ii)(A) That is open or has a broken seal or (B) the contents of which are partially removed; and
(d) Passenger area means the area designed to seat the driver and passengers while the motor vehicle is in operation and any area that is readily accessible to the driver or a passenger while in their seating positions, including any compartments in such area. Passenger area does not include the area behind the last upright seat of such motor vehicle if the area is not normally occupied by the driver or a passenger and the motor vehicle is not equipped with a trunk.
(2) It is unlawful for any person in the passenger area of a motor vehicle to possess an open alcoholic beverage container while the motor vehicle is located in a public parking area or on any highway in this state.
(3) Except as provided in section 53-186, it is unlawful for any person to consume an alcoholic beverage (a) in a public parking area or on any highway in this state or (b) inside a motor vehicle while in a public parking area or on any highway in this state.
A highway is defined as:
60-332 Highway, defined.
Highway means the entire width between the boundary limits of any street, road, avenue, boulevard, or way which is publicly maintained when any part thereof is open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel.
And I cannot locate any section covering off street parkin gfacilities or lots, so I don't know if these are also considered as highways for licensing purposes.
So, feel free to bring up the argument at court. Who knows, you may prevail. However, I suspect that there is a section requiring a license in a parking lot.
- Carl
