Alleged Underage Serving Sends Pittsfield Bar to Licensing Board
PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Bei Tempi was brought before the Licensing Board after a mother alleged that her underage son was served at the West Side bar.
"My son was there. He was highly intoxicated. It resulted in his arrest when he came home violent," Sara Stein said to the board on Monday.
A show-cause hearing for the Bei Tempi, located at 195 Onota St., was continued until next month to gather information about what happened on the night of June 21.
After drinking at a graduation party, Stein said her 18-year-old son became further intoxicated at the establishment before returning home late and becoming combative, resulting in an arrest by police.
She picked up her son's phone from Bei Tempi the next morning, and the owners were unsure whether it was found outside or in the bathroom. Owner Elizabeth Zucco said, "I don't understand how anyone would get into the establishment ever without an ID," citing the use of two doormen for security and identity checking.
"I just think he was in the bar," board member Kathy Amuso said.
"I guess I'd like to table this for one more month, and if we get information, then we have more information to make a decision on, and if we don't, then we make a decision."
Police Capt. Matthew Hill wanted to keep the arrest separate from the show-cause hearing, as it is still an open case. The only thing related to the bar is the allegation of intoxication, he said.
"According to Ms. Stein, her child was with a group of mostly underage friends that all went to Bei Tempi on Saturday, June 21. After leaving the bar, her child returned home, where this child then caused a disturbance that resulted in the police responding at approximately 1:57 in the morning. The call resulted in the arrest of that child. Ms. Stein described her child as being extremely intoxicated and combative," he reported.
"In my conversations with her, she stated that her child's friends had told her they had been at Bei Tempi. When she inquired about her child's cell phone, they stated that it must have been left at the bar. The following day, Sunday, the 22nd, Ms. Stein contacted the bar to ask if the cell phone was there. The bar staff confirmed that it was. She stated she went to the bar to retrieve it. It was allegedly turned over to her by the owner, Elizabeth Zucco, who was working."
Stein reported learning that her son was drinking around 4 p.m. that day at a graduation party in Hinsdale and not hearing from him until he returned home around 1:30 a.m., "highly intoxicated, standing over me, demanding my cell phone because he lost his."
"They irresponsibly drove back to Pittsfield drunk, went to this bar," she said.
"But I know my child, and I know when he's intoxicated. He walked into this bar intoxicated. On top of it, on top of being served. He didn't walk in sober."
When Hill was pressed for more information on the police matter, he said intoxication played a "big part" in the disturbance that led to the young man's arrest.
"I have to tread very lightly, as I said, this is not a criminal proceeding. This is a licensing proceeding, and I can't get those two intertwined," he said.
Zucco said the bar has been particular about having two doormen since a melee last year and is carding every individual who comes in. The owners also plan to upgrade video surveillance storage and have ordered an ID verification machine.
"You can speak to the locals that live next door. They're angry because we see them on the daily and if they don't bring their ID to the bar, they don't come in, especially during an entertainment night, which starts at nine o'clock p.m. and ends at midnight," she said.
She reported that there were two phones found that night, one in the bathroom and the one in the parking lot with a vape and empty Corona bottles. Staff was not aware which phone was the 18-year-old's. Zucco reported having a "personal situation" with Stein at the bar, and Stein called her liar, hurled a vulgarity at her, and walked out of the council chambers.
"This situation has me completely baffled and embarrassed because if there is ever a minor in my establishment drinking, I'm going to be extremely upset," Zucco said.
"I'm paying two doormen that are educated, more than capable of carding these people. They are very aware of what we're going through. We're having an entertainment environment. We need to be on our game and monitor intoxication, which is difficult with drug use and pill use, and anger."
Members of the board questioned the owners about video recording, to which they reported that cloud storage doesn't allow them to keep footage for more than a few weeks, and they didn't know what to look for.
"It just seems like you had enough time to at least weed out most people and say maybe it's one of these 10," Amuso said.
"And now you come here on the 28th, which is more than a month, and you say you don't have the video. That's problematic for me, and I feel like it's problematic for you."
Board member Jon Lifergren added, "What I'm hearing is that we can place one or more minors on your property at some point," and said it's unfortunate that they don't know if his phone was the phone outside or the phone inside.
"Because there's no video that kind of insulates you from responsibility, because, well, we don't know what it says," Chair Thomas Campoli said, pointing to further restraints from the police investigation.
"You believe he was in there, I believe and hope that he definitely wasn't, but it's like, honestly, I can't say 100 percent," Zucco said.
"So I'm going to do every precaution as a business owner in our city like I always have to protect my license and our people that come in there, and I'm going to hook up the machine and start scanning IDs to make sure that if he was in there with his fake ID, that that would not be happening again."
Tags: licensing board, underage drinking,
