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Douglas Wine gets probation for selling infraction
By Mali Lim
Neighb News Correspondent
The Fairhaven Selectboard issued
a six-month probationary period to
Douglas Wine & Spirits, the results of
a March 30th violation of MA General
Law 138, prohibiting the sale of
alcohol to an intoxicated person.
The selectboard held a public
hearing Monday, 5/11, to hear
testimony from police officials as
well as Douglas representatives
owner John Haronian, manager Isaac
Macy and vice president of opera -
tions Craig Power, regarding the
liquor license violation.
According to testimony from
Police Chief Michael Myers an
inebriated male was observed
entering the liquor store the evening
of March 30th and exiting shortly
afterward with a bottle of vodka. The
man then attempted to walk along
Route 6, before stumbling and falling
into a fence. At that point he was
picked up by police and brought to
the hospital due to his severely
intoxicated state.
Chief Meyers related to the board
that the management of the shop
took immediate action, contacting
police both that evening and again
the next day, claiming responsibility
for the liquor law infractions. Store
management subsequently met with
police and laid out an action plan to
prevent such a violation from
happening again, but as mandated
by the liquor laws, the matter had to
come before the board as the town’s
licensing body, said the chief.
Mr. Power, speaking on behalf of
Douglas Wine & Spirits, apologized
to the selectboard.
“I would like to apologize to the
board and to the town as a whole
that this even occurred,” he told the
board members. “We are highly
embarrassed that this happened and
we can’t apologize enough.”
“I can’t think of any other
violations in the 17 years we’ve been
operating, maybe a tobacco viola -
tion in the mid 1990s,” Mr. Power
told the board.
“We work hard to train our
employees, and the clerk involved
was a long-time employee so we
don’t know why she sold alcohol to
this individual,” he continued.
“However, because we have a notolerance
policy we had to terminate
her employment. We have met with
all our employees to discuss this
situation and have made it clear we
will enforce our no-tolerance policy.”
“We’re sorry to see a long-time
employee leave, but you do have to
follow policy and the plan set in
motion,” commented selectboard
member Brian Bowcock. “We have
concern,s especially this time of
year, as we have graduations and
proms coming up, and young people
sometimes like to try to get alcohol
for their parties. This time of year it’s
important to be diligent.”
The selectboard opted to give
Douglas Wine & Spirits a six-month
probation, primarily due to the their
clean track record in town.
Selectboard Chair Charles
Murphy noted that he had confirmed
with Chief Meyers that violations
involving the retailer were rare.
“We have the option of sus -
pending the license and closing the
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store down for a day or longer, and
from our standpoint, we need to
make all the other license holders in
town aware that this is serious,” said
M. Murphy. “Based on evidence
presented, we are making a recom -
mendation of a letter, putting them
on probation for six months because
they showed due diligence and tried
to do the right thing.”
The board did caution the shop’s
representatives that if any other
violations happen during the six
month probation period, another
hearing would be convened.
In other licensing related busi -
ness, the board voted to approve a
common victualer’s license for Lady
J’s d/b/a Griddles at 140 Huttleston
Avenue; a private livery license for
Iskandar Sarkis; and an All Day All
Alcoholic license for St. Joseph’s
School’s Blessing of the Bikes to be
held at the Ice Chest Bar & Grille on
Sunday May 16, from noon to 9 p.m.
The board also approved the
Natural Resource Department’s
request to appoint Ronald Manzone
an assistant harbormaster/shellfish
warden. They appointed Jennifer
Bishop and Ian Dobson to the
Bicentennial Committee and
accepted a letter from Tourism
Commit tee member Mark Scanlon
requesting not to be reappointed
when his term runs out.
Before going into executive
session to discuss land acquisitions,
issues regarding workers’ comp for a
former employee and a request for
authorization of legal services for
board of public works, the board had
a brief meeting with town planner
Bill Roth, for an update on recent
economic development.
The board authorized Mr. Murphy
to sign documents relating to a
federal land grant application for
property on New Boston Road,
approved at town meeting and which
Mr. Roth plans to submit next month.
The board also designated Mr. Roth
as the town’s official representative
for the grant.
The board requested that Mr.
Roth look into scheduling a meeting
between the town and the UMass –
Dartmouth Center for Market
Research to look at ways the town
could better market itself to visitors.
“One of the things that concerns
me about tourism is that we don’t
really have any hard information in
terms of market research about who
wants to come visit Fairhaven, or
what can we do to make people want
to visit Fairhaven,” said Selectboard
Member Michael Silvia. “We do have
a tourism director, which many
towns our size don’t have. We do
have a room tax and meal sales tax,
so we owe it to our hotel business
owners and restaurant owners to
work on tourism development.”
Mr. Silvia added that the up -
coming opening on the tourism
committee might be an opportunity
for someone from the hotel or
restaurant industry to have a
position on the committee, saying
their input would be valuable to the
town’s planning processes.•••
Fairhaven Neighborhood News Thursday, May 13, 2010 Page 17