Four Harford establishments fail liquor board test

Post Road Liquors in Havre de Grace was the only one of the five Harford County Liquor Control Board hearings Wednesday that wasn't appearing before the board because it was accused of failing a compliance test, which would mean it sold alcoholic beverages to an underage person.

It was a June 4 compliance test — that Post Road Liquors passed — that led to the first charge against the store: the sale of an alcoholic beverage to intoxicated person.

Liquor Control Board Chief Inspector Charlie Robbins said DFC Tom Jackson and DFC Chris Maddox, as well as underage liquor board employee Samantha Rollins, conducted the compliance test at Post Road, but was refused service when Rollins showed her valid vertical Maryland driver's license, indicating she was 19 years old.

When the three left the store, Maddox noticed a female passenger, Karen Deans, of Havre de Grace, drinking in a minivan in the parking lot. He then noticed an intoxicated white male, Ronald Ziegler, of Aberdeen, with a 12-pack of beer and could tell from his manner that he was intoxicated. The deputies approached the vehicle when they saw Ziegler trying to start the van.

Robbins said the deputies described Ziegler as unsteady on his feet with slurred speech and smelling of alcohol.

Attorney Anthony DePastina represented licensee Kalpna Shah at the hearing.

DePastina called Jackson to the stand, asking what exactly he saw happen that night.

Jackson said that he saw Ziegler get beer from the cooler section of the store and he could tell he was intoxicated. Once Jackson was outside of the store, he saw the man leave the store with the beer. Jackson never saw the actual transaction, and neither did any other member of the team.

Ankor Daru was the cashier at the time of the sale and said he sold the beer to "the lady," referring to Deans, who wasn't intoxicated. Daru said he didn't see the woman hand the alcohol to Ziegler, only seeing the two talk to each other earlier. Daru didn't even know if they were together. Jackson added that he saw the man carrying the beer after Deans walked to the car.

DePastina mentioned to the board that it's difficult for the cashiers inside the store to see what is happening outside because of the configuration of the front counter facing the liquor inventory.

"My clients can do a better job of that," he said.

DePastina said there is a security tape from the store with the incident recorded, but they were unable to download the tape off of the computer system to show it to the board.

Board member Randall Worthington Sr. asked Daru if he had been coerced or threatened with the security of his job by anyone and if what he testified to was the truth. He nodded and said he was being honest.

Board member Vernon Gauss reminded the licensee and attorney that the store could still be liable even if it was only a transaction and not a purchase of alcoholic beverages. Ziegler had a .24 blood alcohol level at the time, according to testimony at the hearing.

Because the board needed to decide whether or not Post Road was in violation before they continued with the next hearing, Chairman Donald Hess asked again if anyone saw the sale being made to Ziegler. No one did.

The board voted to dismiss the charges based on the cashier's testimony and no one witnessing the actual sale.

The second hearing was on a charge of the sale of alcohol to a minor occurring on June 17 during a "cops in shops" detail with officers Everett Humphrey and Joseph Coxon from the Havre de Grace Police department.

Robbins testified that the officers saw two young men in the back seat of a car in the store's parking lot. No one was in the driver or passenger's seat.

Soon after, John Haffey, of Havre de Grace, and Ryan Chojnowski, also of Havre de Grace, walked out of the store with beer, got into the car and started the engine.

The officers approached the vehicle and asked for ID. Haffey produced a fake Pennsylvania license, which showed a date of birth indicating he was of age. When the officers noticed the ID was false, they asked for his real license, which was a vertical Maryland driver's license, indicating he was 19. Chojnowski's vertical Maryland driver's license showed him to be 18 years old.

The other passengers in the car were never charged because they never possessed the alcohol.

Post Road was only charged with selling alcohol to Chojnowski and not Haffey, since the store had no way of knowing the Pennsylvania license was false.

DePastina said Daru, again the cashier at the time of the sale, did not ask to see Chojnowski's ID as he had seen him several times before in the store, as well as Haffey, who, unfortunately, had been sold alcohol before because of the fake ID.

Hess questioned why a Pennsylvania resident, as Haffey posed to be, would regularly buy from a Havre de Grace store, adding "a red flag should have went up," in the cashier's mind that something was wrong.

DePastina remarked that he lives in Pennsylvania and buys liquor in Maryland, where he works, all the time because "it's cheaper."

Vice Chairwoman Sandi Tunney remarked, "The deed was done when he [Daru] didn't ask for ID."

Hess agreed, saying, "No matter how many times they come into the store" IDs need to be checked.

The board found Post Road guilty on the June 17 charge by statement of fact and was fined $2,000. Two prior violations in 2007 and 2008 were taken into consideration when deciding the amount of the fine.

"They need to tighten their ship up," Worthington said.

Maryland Golf and Country Club, in Bel Air, also had a hearing Wednesday.

Licensees Richard Simone, club president, Donald Stephen, treasurer, and attorney Joseph F. Snee Jr., with Gessner, Snee, Mahoney and Lutche, testified before the board. Donna Souders, the bartender at the time of the compliance test, was also in attendance.

Worthington is a member and stockholder in the country club, but didn't feel that this would affect his decision in finding the club in violation of serving alcohol to a minor and serving a non-member or not.

Chief Inspector Robbins said Rollins, the underage liquor board employee, entered by the banquet entrance the night of the compliance test, and no guest book was present.

Snee said on June 3 and 4, the club was holding a member-member event, where everyone in attendance was 21 or older. The bar was extremely crowded because of the event and Souders was more concerned with taking care of everyone's order.

Snee said in Souders' "frame of mind, everyone must have come through the member entrance and gotten carded." The event was open bar and, therefore, Souders didn't have to check member IDs.

Snee said he wasn't "offering any excuses," but simply stating the facts to give a better picture of the incident. He added the club wants to install egress-friendly hardware for similar events in the future in order to create a "members only" entrance with signage, which would force non-members to only walk through one entrance where they would be carded.

Robbins was asked to come back to the club to train the staff, adding that in the 50-year history of the club, there has never been a violation.

Tunney then asked about Rollins' attire the day of the compliance test. Rollins testified she wore a black lace shirt with a white tank top underneath, jeans and flip-flops.

The reason behind Tunney's question stemmed from a personal experience she had at the club several years earlier when she was not allowed admittance because she was wearing jeans, "nice, designer jeans," she added.

The licensees said the policy on attire has recently changed to allow members to wear jeans inside the club from Memorial Day to Labor Day to encourage more membership, but the staff has experienced confusion with the new rule.

Hess said "the fault is allowing them through the front door."

Maryland Golf and Country Club was found guilty of both charges, serving alcohol to a minor and a non-member, and was fined $500 per charge.

Riverside Pub and Grille, in Bel Air, was found guilty of the sale of an alcoholic beverage to a minor and was fined $1,000.

Licensee Michael DiCarlo received his liquor license five months ago, and when he appeared before the liquor board then and he promised to abide by the board's rules and regulations, which DiCarlo believes he has.

An underage employee of the liquor control board, Andrew Alkins, who was 20 at the time of the compliance test, was accompanied by DFC Beth Zinser and DFC Matt Schueler of the Harford County Sheriff's Office on June 2 and was not carded by the bartender.

Hess, as he often does during show cause hearings, said these violations are "the easiest thing to prevent," as asking for valid ID and not serving a minor is the only thing required to pass the test.

Worthington said quietly that DiCarlo "seemed to be nonchalant" about the violation after the fine was decided.

An Aberdeen 7-Eleven was also found guilty of a sale to a minor and was fined $1,000.

Licensee Hirabhai Patel repeatedly apologized for the violation, adding the cashier at the time of the test was new to the staff.

Attorney Max Miller spoke on behalf of Hitesh Metha, licensee of Edgewood Liquor, Grocery and Deli, which was also charged with sale to a minor.

Chief Inspector Robbins said cashier, Chirag Parikh, asked for underage employee Rollins' ID, which showed she was 19 years old, but rang up the purchase of a six-pack of beer anyway.

Miller, who has known the licensee "for many years, ever since he bought this business 10 years ago," said the cashier looked at the date she turned 18, not 21.

Parikh was busy counting lottery receipts, Miller said, when Rollins' approached the counter and accidentally looked at a date on a calendar that shows the birth date of someone who can legally buy cigarettes, not the date a person can buy alcohol.

"There was a mistake made. There's no doubt abut it," Miller said.

Hess stated that even though the cashier mistakenly looked at the wrong date on the calendar, he shouldn't have let Rollins purchase the alcohol as she has a vertical Maryland driver's license indicating she's underage.

"I find that very hard to accept," Hess said.

The store was found guilty and fined $1,000.