Adams Selectmen Suspend Bascom Lodge's Alcohol License
 John Dudek said he made the decision to serve beer and wine two days before his final inspection expecting to pass the inspection easily. |
The board suspended the license Wednesday night for 20 days, with 14 days already served, and fined the restaurant $200.
The lodge's manager John Dudek is accused of selling alcohol at the lodge before the restaurant was inspected by both the Fire Department and state Building Inspectors that would have activated the licenses.
The inspections are typically done when the Selectmen grant the licenses during the winter. However, because the lodge is closed, then the board stipulated that the permit was pending those inspections.
Dudek admitted to selling the alcohol at a wedding he hosted on June 11 knowing his permit was not active. The wedding was booked ahead of time and Dudek said he was continually delayed by the inspectors. The wedding was three days before the last inspection by the Fire Department.
"There was a report that alcohol was being served up there so we went to the police and they went to the state police and went to the premises and observed that there were persons consuming alcohol beverages in Bascom Lodge," Board of Selectmen Chairman Arthur "Skip" Harrington said.
Harrington read police reports that said on June 11, state troopers went to the lodge and did not see alcohol on the counters or in the refrigerators. However, they noticed a bottle of wine on one of the tables and that Dudek allegedly said the patrons brought it themselves. Police asked the patrons, who said they purchased it there, which Dudek later admitted. Dudek said on Wednesday that he lied to police in an attempt to prevent them from interrupting the guests.
Dudek said the short winter meant access to the lodge was earlier, which extended the amount of time it takes to get it ready for inspections. The inspection was going to be pretty much the same as the year before but the state building inspector postponed twice. What normally takes two weeks was dragged out for six weeks, he said.
The second date Dudek had in mind was May 10 but the inspector canceled early that morning. Two weeks later, Dudek said he had still not heard back from the inspector about a new inspection date.
"I emailed the inspector two or three times and got no response at all," Dudek told the board.
He finally got that inspection on May 23 but in the last two years, the Fire Department had joined in, Dudek said. This time, however, the chief did not, meaning he would have to schedule a separate appointment. He set that appointment for June 13, but the police showed up on June 11.
"We plan events years in advance and we had a contract that was planned far away and they asked for beer and wine. The license should have been, under normal circumstances, renewed already but because of circumstances with the building inspector, it never got renewed," Dudek said. "I had to make a decision, which is the lesser of the two evils 'do I say they can have the wine and the beer or do I abide by the license?' Brides are pretty temperamental on the eve of a wedding."
Dudek said he chose to serve the beer and wine and got cited. The board said that was the wrong decision.
"You knew it was wrong, you made your choice," Board member Michael Ouellette said. "If you've got a business, you need to abide by the rules."
Selectmen John Duval said the board needed to be tough on this because their decision would send a message to the rest of the business community.
"As a business owner you need to make that tough decision," Duval said.
Since the citation, Dudek has not been able to pick up the license and said he has since denied his clients alcohol. That lack of booze led one tearful bride-to-be into Town Administrator Jonathan Butler's office to see if the town would make an exception.
While Butler did try to get board members to grant a special one-day license, not enough Selectmen could attend the special meeting. Butler did add that having patrons come into his office was not the "professional" way to handle the situation.
The lack of a quorum for a Selectmen meeting also delayed the license hearing for two weeks — essentially delaying the activation of his licenses. The board canceled its last two meetings because not enough members could make it. Those 14 days were knocked off the total suspension as time served.
"We scheduled it as quickly as we could. We couldn't get a quorum until now," said Harrington.
The violation is the first for the lodge. Last year, the board revamped its guidelines for violations those who fail compliance checks. The guidelines say a first-time offense was a $100 fine and up to a two-day suspension.
Board members said this was worse because of the blatant disregard for the law instead of a bartender's mistake.
Tags: alcohol violation, alochol licenses, Bascom Lodge,
