The Loyal Order of Moose had their hours of operation restricted by the Board of Selectmen Thursday night after a series of infractions involving alcohol.The bar will now be required to close one hour earlier at midnight, but later than the 11:00 deadline Selectmen also considered.
The rollback came as a response to a number of incidents within a few months at the lodge, including one on Thanksgiving Eve in which a club member was arrested in the parking lot and the bartender was found to be intoxicated.Both the member and the bartender have been suspended, according to club officials.
Attorney Patricia Farnsworth represented the club before the Board and said a rollback to 11:00 could “seriously put them out of business.”She asked them to consider the charitable works performed by the Order, and to note that the seven day suspension imposed over New Year’s Eve “was a hit, a big hit” for the club.
Moose Treasurer Tom Mullinix said a roll back would leave them “on an uneven playing field” and unable to grow their membership.Selectmen, however, were unsympathetic to the club’s pleas.
“What happened, can’t happen again,” said Selectmen Paul Reynolds.“There is just too much at stake.”
Club officials said they were committed to remedying any problems and said they had hired Jim Staples, a former police officer and Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission official, to retrain the bar staff.
“We are trying to do everything in our power,” Mullinix said, “above and beyond what is required of us, to do everything we can to make sure we are in compliance.”
That wasn’t enough for Selectman Mike Butler.He said the Moose were “not a quick learning organization” and that he hadn’t “heard the corrective measures by management I wanted to hear tonight.”
A majority of the Board said the continuing violations were “failures of management.”“I question the ability of the manager of record to handle the job of managing the license for the Moose Club,” said Selectmen Carmen DelloIacono.“It’s a huge responsibility.”
Bruce McLeod, the manager of record for the Moose, attended the hearing but sat in the back row and did not speak.
Selectmen unanimously voted to roll back the hours of operation until midnight for 6 months, and required Moose officials to return in April to give an update of what has been done.
Mullinix said he was glad the Board did not roll the hours back to 11:00, the earliest allowed by state law, but that it would still hurt.“It’s like asking if you want to have your knee broken or your ankle broken,” he said.“To a certain extent it cripples you either way.”
