Tavern owner's son first noticed mistake on license

Jerry DeLaurentis III said Wednesday he had already walked out of Island Lake Village Hall on May 5, 2008 before he noticed the mistake.

The liquor license for his father's business that then-mayor Thomas Hyde had just handed him had the wrong name on it, DeLaurentis said.

What happened during the next 45 minutes or so resulted in Hyde being charged with forgery and official misconduct.

During the second day of Hyde's trial in Lake County Circuit Court, DeLaurentis told the jury of nine men and three women that he and his father, Jerry DeLaurentis, Jr., had discussed transferring the ownership of 3D Bowl/Sideouts for more than a year. The business had been owned by the family since 1961.

DeLaurentis said he set up a corporation to take over the establishment and had discussed with village officials transferring the liquor license from his father to him.

He said the village liquor commission, which Hyde led, had approved issuing the license in the corporation's name in March, and the village board signed-off on the move.

But complications developed, DeLaurentis said, that stalled the ownership transfer, and on May 5, his father still owned 3D Bowl/Sideouts. The liquor license also still belonged to the elder DeLaurentis and had expired April 30.

Former village clerk Christine Kaczmarek, on vacation in Florida at that time, notified Hyde on May 5 that 3D Bowl/Sideouts had been operating without a license since the first of the month.

DeLaurentis said he was told Hyde had called the business and wanted him to come to village hall with a check for $750 to pick up the new license.

He did so, DeLaurentis said, and discovered the license Kaczmarek had prepared before going on vacation was in his corporation's name, not his father's.

DeLaurentis said Hyde was concerned there was a business operating in the village without a license and tried to correct the mistake.

"The mayor and a couple of other people who were there started looking around for a blank license," DeLaurentis said. "He tried calling Christine a couple of times and tried to get into the computer to change the license."

And after a fruitless search that DeLaurentis estimated went on for 45 minutes, Hyde took a bottle of correction fluid, painted over the corporation's name and wrote "Jerry DeLaurentis Jr." over it.

Under cross-examination by Hyde's attorney Charles Smith, DeLaurentis said he did not give Hyde anything other than the $750 renewal fee to change the license, and Hyde did not ask for anything.

He also said Hyde told him he would have to appear at the liquor commission's May 12 meeting to explain how the license had been allowed to lapse, and warned him he might be fined.

DeLaurentis said Hyde also told him he would have a properly-prepared license once Kaczmarek returned from vacation.

If convicted, Hyde faces up to five years in prison but would also be eligible for probation.