Billsman
December 28th, 2005, 12:09:55 PM
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051228/1020444.asp
P.J. Bottoms' license has been canceled and its bond revoked by the State Liquor Authority for giving false information on a permit for a UB ski party. Molly's Pub also has been temporarily shut down.
The State Liquor Authority has temporarily shut down two of Main Street's most popular bars for college students, P.J. Bottoms and Molly's Pub, after a Dec. 15 raid that brought charges against 20 minors for underage drinking and three bartenders accused of serving them alcohol.
SLA commissioners, whose lax enforcement of liquor laws caused Gov. George E. Pataki to name a new chief executive officer in November, decided to shut both bars during their meeting Thursday:
Molly's Pub, 3199 Main, was given an emergency suspension and faces a Jan. 17 hearing.
P.J. Bottoms, 3270 Main, with a long SLA record for serving underage drinkers, saw its license canceled and its bond revoked for giving false information on a permit for a University at Buffalo ski club party Oct. 15.
Cancellation means that the bar can apply for a new license and reopen. Further charges against P.J. Bottoms could result from the Dec. 15 raid.
"The State Liquor Authority takes underage drinking very seriously," SLA spokeswoman Kimberly Morello said Tuesday, confirming the discipline. "We will continue our efforts to aggressively address the issues of licensees serving alcohol to minors."
SLA critics dispute how aggressive those actions have been in the past, especially in the case of P.J. Bottoms.
The bar has stayed open despite paying $23,000 in fines over the last four years and getting two 30-day suspensions for serving underage drinkers.
Those suspensions did not include charges in the death of 19-year-old Travis Hennigar of Grand Island. Hennigar died in a high-speed crash in February 2002 after the car he was driving went into the Niagara River. Sheriff's investigators found that he and a friend had been drinking illegally at P.J. Bottoms.
"It's a priority, and it's being very actively investigated," authority spokesman J. Mark Anderson said at the time. Almost four years later, the SLA still has not cited the bar in the in the Hennigar case.
In the midst of its last 30-day suspension in June for serving underage drinkers, P.J. Bottoms was able to wipe its disciplinary record clean and start fresh when SLA commissioners approved a new license for the bar.
"That is how the game is played," said Chester Menkiena, a retired SLA investigator and critic of its enforcement policies. "They change licenses. They allow the place to stay open and make money."
The Dec. 15 raid, by SLA agents and state police, came the night before the SLA released the P.J. Bottoms disciplinary file to The Buffalo News following a Freedom of Information request.
State police arrested a bartender at P.J. Bottoms and two at Molly's Pub for serving the minors and cited 20 for drinking underage in both bars. They did not say how many were at each bar.
Included in the SLA file on P.J. Bottoms obtained by The News were these charges:
June 20, 2003, underage drinking.
"As we interviewed the minors, the bar emptied and only three or four students remained," SLA Investigator Kurt Hermann said. "Even the bartender left the premises and could not be located."
The three SLA commissioners voted to fine the bar $8,000. Ralph C. Lorigo, P.J. Bottoms' attorney, called the fine excessive and appealed it to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. The judges upheld the fine.
Nov. 26, 2003, underage drinking.
As SLA Investigator Hermann and a detective from the Erie County Sheriff's Department parked their car outside P.J. Bottoms, they saw a young man run inside.
"A minute later, about 75 to 80 underage patrons ran out the two rear doors of the premises, jumping over cars in the parking lot and running down Englewood Avenue," Hermann reported. "This is the worst premises in Buffalo for allowing underage drinking."
The SLA issued a letter of advice to P.J. Bottoms as a result. It was one of 11 warning letters in the file.
April 20, 2005, underage drinking.
Four incidents on different dates were cited, including UB campus police finding an intoxicated student lying on the sidewalk outside University Plaza; an intoxicated young man trying to get into the wrong building on campus; and a disheveled, shirtless young man found running away from P.J. Bottoms, looking as if he had been in a fight. All three said they had been drinking illegally at P.J. Bottoms. Two Medaille College students drinking at P.J. Bottoms with altered proof were also cited.
Edward F. Kelly, the SLA chairman who announced his coming retirement in November after Pataki named Joshua B. Toas as chief executive officer, voted to fine the bar $10,000 and give it a 30-day suspension, as did commissioner Lawrence J. Gedda.
A third commissioner, Joseph C. Zarriello, voted to revoke the bar's license and prevent it from reapplying for two years.
The $10,000 fine and month's suspension was approved, but before the bar reopened, the commissioners approved Anthony Harris as the new license holder.
The previous licensee, Michael Monile, continues to own the building. Neither Harris nor Monile could be reached to comment.
Lorigo, an attorney and Erie County Conservative Party chairman who has represented Monile and P.J. Bottoms, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
William W. Hall, a principal in WAM Corp., owner of Molly's Pub, also did not return a call seeking comment.
The SLA's recent actions, under Toas, its new chief executive, were welcomed by those who have complained about underage drinking for years in the University District.
"Bars like P.J. Bottoms are right in the heart of solid neighborhoods," said Common Council Member Bonnie E. Russell, who represents the University District. "The neighbors don't want them there. I don't want them there."
Russell said she is pushing for state legislation that would require the State Liquor Authority to consider neighborhood opposition when granting licenses to problem bars.
"There are a number of other bars and businesses who depend on students," Russell said, "but they obey the law."
Dennis R. Black, UB vice president for student affairs, said the university has a hard time enforcing the 21-year-old drinking age on campus when students can drink illegally at Main Street bars.
"We need something basic and simple - enforcement of the law," Black said.
"We enforce the law on campus. We take a lot of heat from our students for it. We don't think it's a gray zone, it's black and white."
P.J. Bottoms' license has been canceled and its bond revoked by the State Liquor Authority for giving false information on a permit for a UB ski party. Molly's Pub also has been temporarily shut down.
The State Liquor Authority has temporarily shut down two of Main Street's most popular bars for college students, P.J. Bottoms and Molly's Pub, after a Dec. 15 raid that brought charges against 20 minors for underage drinking and three bartenders accused of serving them alcohol.
SLA commissioners, whose lax enforcement of liquor laws caused Gov. George E. Pataki to name a new chief executive officer in November, decided to shut both bars during their meeting Thursday:
Molly's Pub, 3199 Main, was given an emergency suspension and faces a Jan. 17 hearing.
P.J. Bottoms, 3270 Main, with a long SLA record for serving underage drinkers, saw its license canceled and its bond revoked for giving false information on a permit for a University at Buffalo ski club party Oct. 15.
Cancellation means that the bar can apply for a new license and reopen. Further charges against P.J. Bottoms could result from the Dec. 15 raid.
"The State Liquor Authority takes underage drinking very seriously," SLA spokeswoman Kimberly Morello said Tuesday, confirming the discipline. "We will continue our efforts to aggressively address the issues of licensees serving alcohol to minors."
SLA critics dispute how aggressive those actions have been in the past, especially in the case of P.J. Bottoms.
The bar has stayed open despite paying $23,000 in fines over the last four years and getting two 30-day suspensions for serving underage drinkers.
Those suspensions did not include charges in the death of 19-year-old Travis Hennigar of Grand Island. Hennigar died in a high-speed crash in February 2002 after the car he was driving went into the Niagara River. Sheriff's investigators found that he and a friend had been drinking illegally at P.J. Bottoms.
"It's a priority, and it's being very actively investigated," authority spokesman J. Mark Anderson said at the time. Almost four years later, the SLA still has not cited the bar in the in the Hennigar case.
In the midst of its last 30-day suspension in June for serving underage drinkers, P.J. Bottoms was able to wipe its disciplinary record clean and start fresh when SLA commissioners approved a new license for the bar.
"That is how the game is played," said Chester Menkiena, a retired SLA investigator and critic of its enforcement policies. "They change licenses. They allow the place to stay open and make money."
The Dec. 15 raid, by SLA agents and state police, came the night before the SLA released the P.J. Bottoms disciplinary file to The Buffalo News following a Freedom of Information request.
State police arrested a bartender at P.J. Bottoms and two at Molly's Pub for serving the minors and cited 20 for drinking underage in both bars. They did not say how many were at each bar.
Included in the SLA file on P.J. Bottoms obtained by The News were these charges:
June 20, 2003, underage drinking.
"As we interviewed the minors, the bar emptied and only three or four students remained," SLA Investigator Kurt Hermann said. "Even the bartender left the premises and could not be located."
The three SLA commissioners voted to fine the bar $8,000. Ralph C. Lorigo, P.J. Bottoms' attorney, called the fine excessive and appealed it to the Appellate Division of State Supreme Court. The judges upheld the fine.
Nov. 26, 2003, underage drinking.
As SLA Investigator Hermann and a detective from the Erie County Sheriff's Department parked their car outside P.J. Bottoms, they saw a young man run inside.
"A minute later, about 75 to 80 underage patrons ran out the two rear doors of the premises, jumping over cars in the parking lot and running down Englewood Avenue," Hermann reported. "This is the worst premises in Buffalo for allowing underage drinking."
The SLA issued a letter of advice to P.J. Bottoms as a result. It was one of 11 warning letters in the file.
April 20, 2005, underage drinking.
Four incidents on different dates were cited, including UB campus police finding an intoxicated student lying on the sidewalk outside University Plaza; an intoxicated young man trying to get into the wrong building on campus; and a disheveled, shirtless young man found running away from P.J. Bottoms, looking as if he had been in a fight. All three said they had been drinking illegally at P.J. Bottoms. Two Medaille College students drinking at P.J. Bottoms with altered proof were also cited.
Edward F. Kelly, the SLA chairman who announced his coming retirement in November after Pataki named Joshua B. Toas as chief executive officer, voted to fine the bar $10,000 and give it a 30-day suspension, as did commissioner Lawrence J. Gedda.
A third commissioner, Joseph C. Zarriello, voted to revoke the bar's license and prevent it from reapplying for two years.
The $10,000 fine and month's suspension was approved, but before the bar reopened, the commissioners approved Anthony Harris as the new license holder.
The previous licensee, Michael Monile, continues to own the building. Neither Harris nor Monile could be reached to comment.
Lorigo, an attorney and Erie County Conservative Party chairman who has represented Monile and P.J. Bottoms, did not return a telephone call seeking comment.
William W. Hall, a principal in WAM Corp., owner of Molly's Pub, also did not return a call seeking comment.
The SLA's recent actions, under Toas, its new chief executive, were welcomed by those who have complained about underage drinking for years in the University District.
"Bars like P.J. Bottoms are right in the heart of solid neighborhoods," said Common Council Member Bonnie E. Russell, who represents the University District. "The neighbors don't want them there. I don't want them there."
Russell said she is pushing for state legislation that would require the State Liquor Authority to consider neighborhood opposition when granting licenses to problem bars.
"There are a number of other bars and businesses who depend on students," Russell said, "but they obey the law."
Dennis R. Black, UB vice president for student affairs, said the university has a hard time enforcing the 21-year-old drinking age on campus when students can drink illegally at Main Street bars.
"We need something basic and simple - enforcement of the law," Black said.
"We enforce the law on campus. We take a lot of heat from our students for it. We don't think it's a gray zone, it's black and white."