Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverage Licensing Blog

Greenfield's Board of License Commissioners has ordered the Easy Street Nightclub to remain closed through this holiday weekend - a traditionally busy time for Western Massachusetts eating and drinking establishments - after a series of recent problems, including the arrest of a co-owner of the nightclub on drug charges last month.

Bar owner Ivan Tristan was arrested in November on cocaine and other charges. The day after his arrest, town officials closed Easy Street for eight days, citing safety-code violations at the Fiske Avenue club, according to a report by the Greenfield Recorder.

On Tuesday, the Board of License Commissioners again ordered the bar to close, yanking the club's liquor license for 10 days - three of which must be served immediately. The remaining seven days were deferred, The Recorder reported.

It wasn't immediately clear what specifically triggered this week's closure, but club manager and co-owner Ananda Larson last month agreed to correct the safety issues.

William B. Allen, chairman of the Board of License Commissioners, told 22News that even though Tristan is no longer involved with the bar, Larson is still responsible for the violations.

Tristan denied the drug charges at his arraignment last month in Greenfield District Court. Greenfield Police Detective Kevin Rowell said Tristan was the subject of a five-month investigation into illicit drug activity at the club.

Police surveillance of liquor stores and restaurants has resulted in multiple arrests of underage persons for purchasing of alcohol and a five-day liquor license suspension for Powdermill Road business Millstream Liquors in Maynard.

Over a five-week period, officers witnessed the sale of liquor to underage patrons at Millstream Liquors. In three instances, the customer was not asked for ID and the clerk twice accepted a false out-of-state ID.

The Town of Adams Board of Selectmen has placed five liquor-licenses holders on suspended sentences for failing to pass compliance checks. O'Geary's package store, Forest Park Country Club, Wojo's bar, C.J's Sports Pub, and Gringo's Firehouse Cafe were all given a six-month probationary period after they failed alcohol compliance checks in June.

If one of those establishments fails another check in that period, an immediate one-day license suspension will become effective.

The Arlington Board of Selectmen has suspended Midami Japanse Restaurant's liquor license for three days starting in September, after the restaurant failed an alcohol compliance check last month, according to patch.com

The Arlington Police Department ran a sting on all alcohol-serving restaurants and three liquor stores. Midami, 444 Massachusetts Ave., was the only alcohol-serving establishment to have failed the test, according to police.

Town Counsel Juliana Rice said a three-day suspension conforms to the town's policy on first-time alcohol compliance violations.

The suspension will be enacted in September, when the restaurant will be unable to sell alcoholic beverages from Wednesday to Friday, though dates are yet to be determined. Midami will still be allowed to sell food.

The vote to suspend Midami's license for three days was unanimous.

The Boston Licensing Board in late June voted to suspend Durgin-Park's liquor license for two days because of an incident in which a now ex-oyster shucker kept groping a waitress even after she told him to stop and punched him.

At a recent Board hearing, waitresses testified that the man routinely groped waitresses but that nobody thought to tell management.

The board also gave Mama Blanca on Saratoga Street in East Boston a two-day suspension for a brawl that left one man missing half an ear.

The Bar Room on Broad Street lost its liquor license for three days because of an incident in which the bar confiscated a gun from a drunk man trying to enter the establishment and then didn't tell police about it for almost a day.

The establishments can decide when to shut down. They can also appeal the punishments to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission.

The Eagle Tribune reports that a large crowd of patrons and bystanders interfered with rescue workers as they tried to tend to a shooting victim at the Marabu nightclub on Union Street.

Eric Santiago, 28, who gave an address of 2 Appleton St., Apt. 7, -- which happens to be the address of Lawrence District Court -- was shot once in the side and once in the neck, according to police reports.

Investigators will be filing a request for a hearing before the city's Licensing Board to discuss problems at the club. On June 8, the Licensing Board revoked the club's liquor license for a five-day period. The suspension stemmed from a May 9 incident during which four men allegedly blocked traffic as the bar was closing and then skirmished with police who asked them to move on.

On May 25, the board ordered the bar closed June 3, 4, 5, 10 and 11 after finding a deck had been built outside the club without approval from the Building Department or the Licensing Board and ignored three orders by police to close it.

Police recently responded to a report of a shooting in or near the men's room of the Marabu. Upon arrival, they found that the victim had been carried outside by some friends who said they were going to take him to the hospital in their own car.

However, before he could be taken away, EMTs and paramedics from the Lawrence Fire Department and Patriot Ambulance began working on the victim outside the nightclub.

"Bystanders were attempting to grab items within the crime scene, interfere with EMTs and paramedics," according to a report by Patrolman Carlos Vieira.

Vieira said that a number of people were yelling at police, saying they were "doing nothing" as they tried to secure the scene and interview witnesses.

More than a dozen officers from the early night shift and the midnight shift responded, mostly to help with crowd control.

The Eagle Trib reports that Police Chief John Romero said detectives are investigating what, if any, role the management of the club had in the incident and in carrying the victim outside to his friends' car.

Santiago was taken to Lawrence General Hospital where he was stabilized before being flown to Beth Israel Deaconness Hospital in Boston at around 2 a.m. He was not listed as being a patient at the hospital, according to a hospital spokeswoman, so his condition was unavailable yesterday. Romero said he was in "pretty rough shape" and had undergone surgery during the day yesterday.

The Westwood Press reports that the Board of Selectmen has imposed a three-day liquor license suspension but with a one-year abeyance on the Blue Orchid, a Chinese restaurant located at 927 High St., for serving alcohol to a minor.

Westwood Police Chief Bill Chase said it was the first offense in six years of having the license.
"We've been doing compliance checks since Westwood first began to license restaurants," Chase said. "They were among the first ones licensed, and they've not had any previous violations."
The compliance checks are done in cooperation with the Alcohol Beverage Control Commission and are treated like police sting missions.
"This particular individual, who is 18 years old, went into the restaurant and ordered an alcoholic beverage and was served without being asked for an ID," Chase said. "When that happens, the person walks out and the investigators from the ABCC come in. They identify the person who sold the alcohol and then a hearing is held at a later date."

Chairman of the Board of Selectmen Pat Ahearn said Blue Orchid manager David Ng's openness and willingness to comply encouraged them to pass the motion for a suspension with an abeyance. That means the restaurant will not have to serve the suspension for one year. If it has no violation within that year, the suspension is dropped.

"The manager there was very forthcoming," Ahearn said. "He accepted responsibility and indicated that he had already taken remedial steps to prevent future violations."
Further training for the staff is already underway, Ng said, emphasizing that the incident was a mistake.
"The violation is the first offense we've ever had," Ng said. "The server just forgot and she made a mistake. There's no excuse, she just forgot. And, we admit to the mistake."
Now, Ng said, every time a server enters an alcoholic beverage into the computer, a screen will pop up reminding servers to check for identification.
"We're emphasizing to the serving staff that checking for identification is taken very seriously here," Ng said.

One third of Attleboro's liquor stores have been accused of selling alcohol to minors.

According to the city's licensing board, a 19-year-old was able to buy booze at five shops in one night.

It was the first offense for four stores. The licenses for Cozy Mart, Twin Liquors, Attleboro Liquor Mart and Yankee Spirits will be suspended for one day.

It was Moe Wash's second violation, which means it will lose its license for three days.

The Marabu nightclub in Lawrence was ordered this week to surrender its liquor license for 5 days for a second time in just two weeks after officials accused its owner of persistently violating liquor laws, building codes and noise regulations, and thwarting the police and inspectors who show up to enforce them, reported the Eagle Tribune.

"We've done so much to try to help her and it just gets thrown back in our faces, like we're clowns," Licensing Board Chairman Richard Fielding said just before the board's unanimous vote. He referred to Nereyda Trempe, the owner of the popular Union Street club, who listened tearfully in the small hearing room. "We're just fed up," Fielding said.

The Licensing Board ordered Trempe to surrender her liquor license after reviewing a police report describing a May 9 incident when four men allegedly blocked traffic as the bar was closing and then skirmished with police who asked them to move on. At least one of the four is a minor who allegedly had been drinking inside the bar.

Sgt. Michael Simard reported suffering a knee injury as he struggled with one of the men, Rosalito Tejada of North Andover, who was charged with disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and assault and battery on a police officer.

The board's vote to suspend Marabu's liquor license was its second in two weeks. On May 25, the board ordered the bar closed June 3, 4, 5, 10 and 11 after finding Trempe had built a deck outside the club without approval from the Building Department or the Licensing Board and ignored three orders by police to close it.

Trempe appealed the suspension to the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission on May 31, one day before it was to take effect, which allows the bar to remain open until the appeal can be heard.

The Worcester Telegram & Gazette reports that a Superior Court judge has issued a preliminary injunction staying the License Commission's March 17 revocation of the Platinum Premier Gentlemen's Club's common victualer and all-alcoholic and entertainment licenses pending appeals.

The action by Superior Court Judge Janet Kenton-Walker allows the strip club at 241 Southbridge St. to continue to offer entertainment and serve food and drinks while it appeals the revocation of its all-alcohol license to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission and the loss of the entertainment license to the Superior Court.

The Worcester License Commission revoked the licenses after finding the club responsible for several violations, including staying open after 2 a.m., possessing adulterated alcohol, hindering a police investigation and charging a single patron $22,825 in credit card receipts. The revocations were also based on a videotape that allegedly depicts a now-former employee beating and robbing a club patron inside the club.

The club maintained the commission revoked the licenses unlawfully. The City disagrees.

In assessing the club's likelihood of success on its claims, one of the prerequisites for the issuance of a preliminary injunction, Judge Kenton-Walker said it was undisputed that the License Commission never provided the establishment with written notice of the entertainment license revocation accompanied by a statement of reasons for the action.

"Equally important, while the Commission has stated the reasons for revocation in its opposition, it has not given the court any supporting documentation, such as an affidavit, minutes or portions of a transcript, to help it determine the sufficiency of the evidence presented at the hearing," Judge Kenton-Walker wrote.

"Although the court recognizes that there may be cognizable public interest concerns in granting this injunction, the only facts before the court indicate that the Commission utterly failed to comply with the controlling statutes in revoking Premier's licenses."

"When the Commission complies with the statutory requirements, it may reprise its public interest contentions before the court with respect to the entertainment license, and may certainly raise such issues before the ABCC with respect to the common victualer all alcoholic license," the judge said in her ruling.

In back to back liquor violation hearings that took several hours to resolve, selectmen last week meted out punishments to the Mansfield Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3264 and Sake Steak House, reports the Mansfield News.

The Sake restaurant received a letter of reprimand and agreed to a make a $1,000 "voluntary donation" to the town for its three violations of state liquor laws.

The wars post will lose its liquor license for a day based on police evidence that a former manager was served two drinks at the bar before allegedly striking a mother and her baby while driving drunk.

Selectman Doug Annino voted against the one-day penalty, saying serving the manager of the bar while he was intoxicated showed a "lack of judgment."

"I think it's very serious. I don't know if a one-day suspension is enough," he said.

Police Chief Arthur O'Neill said John J. Camara, 79, of Norton, failed both field sobriety and breathalyzer tests after the incident on Dec. 18. He faces charges of operating under the influence of alcohol, causing serious injury, and operating to endanger. But he said the VFW had not had a violation in more than a decade.

The post will not appeal the decision to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission. Camara resigned his position in January. The post will suspend its license on Feb. 22

Selectmen said Sake Steak House in Mansfield Crossing broke three liquor laws with its sake squirting ritual and should face an additional monetary penalty.

Owner Kevin Shi admitted to the violations including serving alcohol to a minor.

Police filed a complaint against the restaurant after the father of a 19-year old college student told an officer that a chef had sprayed sake, or rice wine, into his mouth as part of the"hibachi" food preparation entertainment when the family was dining there on Dec. 30. The man also told police he heard patrons chanting "sake" and a chef responding by squirting sake into their mouths.

Those actions violate the Massachusetts "happy hour" law that prohibits licensees from offering free drinks, except for "tastings," and from encouraging the use of alcohol as part of a game.

"This is not a frat house. This is a restaurant," Annino said.

Shi said he stopped squirting sake the day after the complaint was filed and had replaced the wine with soda.

Guidelines for liquor violations adopted in 2005 call for a letter of reprimand and one- to three-day suspension for a first violation. But selectmen failed to get a majority vote on a penalty three times.

Citing a new state option that allowed them to fine an establishment without shutting it down, they decided on the reprimand and penalty.

But, while a fine would be collected by the state, a "free and voluntary" donation could be handed over to the town.

Shi donated the $1,000 to the town's fuel assistance program.

The Martha's Vineyard Times reports that the Oyster Bar Grille in Oak Bluffs has operated year-round without the required license to serve alcohol, according to town officials. Oak Bluffs police have told the financially troubled restaurant's owners that the establishment cannot reopen as scheduled, February 10, without proof of a valid year-round alcohol license.

The restaurant had been closed since New Year's Eve.

Police said they told manager Michael Gillespie that if he opens for business, he will be subject to arrest.

Town administrator Michael Dutton said the town is tightening enforcement of the bylaws, since the Oyster Bar Grille's violations have come to light.

"He shouldn't have been allowed to operate," Mr. Dutton said. "It has highlighted a little bit of miscommunication between the police department, the selectmen's office, the ABCC, and the applicants."

The state Alcohol Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) denied the Oyster Bar Grille's application for a year-round license in February 2008, but the Circuit Avenue bar and restaurant has been open for business during parts of the past two winters, violating state and local laws. Neither the state nor the town took enforcement action against the restaurant.

The Oyster Bar holds a valid seasonal alcohol license, which permits the sale of alcohol, only from April 1 to December 31.

This week, the ABCC again denied an application for a year-round alcohol license. The commission dated its disapproval February 4. The ABCC cited "failure to comply with Massachusetts tax laws," as the reason for the rejection.

MAD Corporation, the limited liability corporation which operates the Oyster Bar Grille, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 14, according to federal court records.

The beginning of bankruptcy proceedings came on the same day that an auction was scheduled to sell the building at 57 Circuit Avenue, along with all the furniture and fixtures. The filing halted the auction and all other actions by the creditors.

The bankruptcy filing lists the Internal Revenue Service, The Massachusetts Department of Revenue, and the Oak Bluffs tax collector as creditors.

According to a motion filed by Edgartown National Bank, the largest creditor, MAD Corporation's debts total $1,587,658, including $742,832 owed to the bank. The filing shows the company owes the town of Oak Bluffs $108,700.

The Times made several attempts over the past three weeks to contact Oyster Bar Grille manager Michael Gillespie and his bankruptcy attorney. Neither responded to messages requesting comment.

Continue reading "Oak Bluffs Restaurant Cannot Open Without Year-Round License" »

Falmouth Selectmen reduced its suspension of the Cape Verdean Club's liquor license this week from 60 days to two weeks after conducting its second hearing related to several parties that have taken place there leading to noise complaints, fights, a stabbing, and a police officer being injured, according to the Cape Cod News.

At the beginning of November, the board voted to suspend the license for two months, but the action became nullified after it was discovered representatives from the Cape Verdean Club had not picked up the certified letter until after the hearing.
"You have to show they had notice of the hearing before you can go forward," Falmouth Town Counsel Frank K. Duffy Jr. said. Before this week's hearing was conducted, he said, Constable James M. Crossen delivered the hearing notice by hand to Cape Verdean Club representatives.

"This doesn't happen very often," Mr. Duffy said, noting that if selectmen did not re-hear the case this week, the Cape Verdean Club could have appealed the decision to the state Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission because they were not given proper notice.

At the root of the problem, Falmouth Police Chief Anthony J. Riello said, have been incidents that have occurred over the past two years, which his department has responded to and which have gotten increasingly worse. Since February, he said, there have been four parties that stood out that he briefly highlighted. The last took place in October, he said, in which Officer Andrew Loewen suffered a broken nose while apprehending a suspect who was involved in a fight outside the club.

At the Nov. 3 Seekonk (MA) Board of Selectmen meeting, members suspended Seekonk Hospitality Group's liquor license until they filed updated paperwork with the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC). The snag forced The Ramada Inn and the adjacent Di Parma Restaurant - which uses the license to serve patrons - to remove all alcohol from the premises.

After the announcement was announced, Di Parma owner Teddy Zembolous said that he wanted to make the situation right.

Di Parma opened in July and is still trying to build its business. "It's like you trying to work without a pen," a bartender at Di Parma told the website patch.com. "I'm a bartender with no booze."

The Selectmen maintain that their actions were warranted and necessary.

"It was a difficult decision, but it wasn't made lightly," said Chairman Bob Richardson. "They had six months to get it right."

"It was more like nine months," said selectman David Parker. "They submitted paperwork three or four times and each time it was wrong," Parker continued, "Somebody could have come after us for giving them too much slack."

Di Parma owners now must bring their latest set of paperwork before the board on the Wednesday, Nov. 24, meeting, for approval. If the paperwork passes the board's inspection, it will go to the ABCC.

The Boston Globe reported that Brookline selectmen last week delivered warnings to two businesses and punished another after they were caught selling alcohol to minors during a police sting operation last month.

The board's decision to suspend Mall Discount Liquors' alcohol sales license for 10 days will cost the Harvard Street business more than $40,000 in lost receipts, according to Steven Boris, a lawyer representing the store's owner.

The business received the suspension because last month's citation was its second liquor-license violation in a year, officials said.

The board also chided the two first-time violators before giving both of them a three-day suspension, held for a year.

Christopher Hogan, manager of the Meat House at 1285 Beacon St., and Ricky Patel, owner of Village Liquor & Convenience at 294 Washington St., expressed contrition for the Sept. 15 sales to the student working with police. Both provided documents showing new employee training and policies since the sting.