The Dedham Moose Lodge on Lower East Street had their liquor license suspended for one week on December 18th after a public hearing by the Board of Selectmen. The suspension is in response to a Thanksgiving Eve incident in which the bartender was found to be drunk while on duty.
Officials from the Moose Lodge appeared before the Board last night to answer for the arrests and alcohol violations that occurred there on November 26. The officials, Treasurer Tom Mullinix and Bar Manager Bruce McLeod, accepted the police report as fact, but later denied that the bartender had been drinking while working.
Police initially responded to reports of a loud argument in the Moose parking lot around 11:30, which ultimately resulted the arrest of Kenneth Jewkes of Walpole for disturbing the peace. Mullinix said Jewkes was “severely dealt with” by the Lodge and will not be allowed back for at least a year.
While on the scene, Sergeant Michael Buckley detected a strong odor of alcohol on bartender Patricia Corraro’s breath and said her speech was slurred. She twice denied having anything to drink, but later admitted to having a single drink.
McLeod said Corraro was called at about 6:00 to replace a bartender who had called in sick, and had the drink before she knew she would be working. Her shift started around 7:30, he said, and he did not see her have a drink before he left at 11:15.
Buckley said he “stood strongly” behind his statement that Corraro was intoxicated. He said she performed one field sobriety test, but determined it was not safe to conduct another. Buckley said she was swaying as she spoke and had tripped over an empty box on her way into the kitchen.
Mullinix said the Lodge was taking “proactive actions” to retrain bartenders and prevent a similar occurrence, but this was not enough to appease Selectmen.
“This is the second violation in a very short period of time,” Chairman Jim MacDonald said. “The Board is very concerned about management.”
MacDonald was referring to an incident in September when members were found to be drinking outdoors at a horseshoe tournament. They were issued a written warning and all bartenders were required to be retrained.
All officers of the Lodge and bartenders, including Corraro, submitted to the town a document affirming that they were “intimately familiar with the rules and regulations” the Town has issued for holders of alcoholic licenses.
Mullinix told the Selectmen that Corarro was still employed as a bartender, pending the outcome of the hearing. After the meeting Mullinix refused to say what would happen to her. “The Selectmen are doing their job, and we are doing ours,” he said.
The Moose were awarded a license in August after Town Meeting granted special approval in April. Selectmen Paul Reynolds told the Moose that “it is amazing that you can come back in such a short period of time without even an admission that something is even wrong.”
Selectmen also voted to hold another public hearing in January to consider additional sanctions. These may including placing the Lodge in a probationary period and rolling back the closing hour from 1 am to 11 pm, the earliest allowed by state law. The suspension will begin on December 30, end on January 5, and will include New Years Eve, when other bars will be allowed to stay open late.
