North Adams Bar Ordered to Get Staff Trained After Underage Incident
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — State Street T avoided fines and penalties for serving an underage customer, but was told to get its bartenders certified.
The Licensing Board held a public hearing Thursday on the February incident with co-owner Robert Cellana and bartender Chad Cellana, voting unanimously to order the bar to train its staff.
"This hearing will serve as a warning to your establishment, to the bartender to yourself to get TIPs certified, and to really card everything," said Licensing Board member Rosemari Dickinson, adding "this could have been a lot more serious."
Board member Peter Breen said the fines could be up to $2,000 and the bartender could get up one year in prison.
Police Chief Jason Wood told the board that police were notified that a 20-year-old woman was being served at the bar on Feb. 26. An officer on detail was informed about the incident by a relative through SnapChat and reported it to the Police Department.
Several officers arrived at the establishment and Officer Robert Barrett said the woman did not seem intoxicated but there were several empty drinks on the table she was sharing with several people. Wood said she stated her age was 20 when she was questioned. She was taken home by police and her car left in the parking lot across the street; police held onto her keys until she came the station to pick them up the next day.
Barrett said they had checked identification of everyone inside the bar and that everyone else was 21 or older. Breen asked if she was charged and Barrett responded no.
"No sir, by officer discretion. She did not seen intoxicated although she did have empty glasses in front of her," he said.
Dickinson asked if the math could have been off since woman will turn 21 this year. Chad Cellana said it was possible but that "the license she had on her said she was of age and it was a valid 21-plus ID from what I saw." When asked if it could have been fake, he thought he could have been duped.
Barrett said he didn't look for another ID once she handed him a correct one and Cellana said officers didn't ask any other questions. Wood said either scenario — fake ID, bad math — was possible but that police weren't called for a fake ID, they were called for an underage drinker..
Cellana said he wasn't TIPs trained, a program called Training for Intervention Procedures that teaches servers about laws and responsible and safe alcohol service. Robert Cellana said only one or two bartenders at the tavern are trained.
"With Mr. Breen citing the law and the amount of trouble you could be in as a bartender or any one of your bartenders, which would fall on them as he said, that would be a big concern for me," Dickinson said. "So I'd be wanting to get certified if I were you ... The other thing with your establishment, Mr. Cellana, is you run a good establishment down there. I can't recall a police report coming before us regarding your establishment. ...
"It's sad that this one had to come to us and had to come to us in such a way, to be honest with you."
Board member Michael Goodson said he'd liked to see all the staff TIPs trained. Breen and Dickinson agreed with him and asked that the bar notify them in writing when everyone was trained.
Breen also queried police about why it took months for the report to come to the board, long past the ability to really investigate.
"We need to work closer together than finding out in April something happened in Feburary," he said. "It should have been investigated with the bartender .... you had the person in custody ... he didn't get questioned and she didn't get questioned. ...
"I think serving minors is a very bad thing. You know, with alcohol, it's regulated at the federal, the state and the local level, the delivery of alcohol. And that's our most important thing on the local level is to make sure it doesn't get minors."
In other business, Bright Ideas Brewing was approved for a license to serve beer this summer at Joe Wolfe Field. The seasonal license runs from April 1 to Jan. 1, 2023.
Taproom supervisor Makayla-Courtney McGeeney said the brewery would use the same practice as last year in ensuring customers were of age and who was getting the beer, of which patrons are allowed to buy two at a time.
"We use wristbands for everyone or we use a stamp or figuring out what the best practice is," she said. "We make sure that if one person is coming to order, then they bring the other person with them."
She said there was no intent to do events other than the games, that service will end at 9:30 or earlier and that the beer being sold is light beer with less than 6 percent alcohol.
Tags: license board, alcohol violation,
