Bar owners appeal violations to Geneva liquor board
Owners of Caboose Pub and Grill in downtown Geneva pleaded their case for mercy Monday afternoon, at a hearing into an allegation one of their bartenders served alcohol to two underage women.
Geneva police sent undercover 20-year-old agents into the bar, which is in the Metra train station, on June 19 as part of a compliance check run on liquor license-holders during the town's annual Swedish Days Festival.
Ronald Spriet and Cheri Carlson, who own a 50 percent share of the business, said their bartender mistook the word "2009" for "2008" on the licenses of the agents, who turn 21 in 2009. They have since bought a bigger magnifying glass and a flashlight for bartenders to use when checking identification in low light, Carlson said, and the bartender has gotten eyeglasses.
"I know you people have heard song-and-dance before about how long (a licensee) has been in business before," said Spriet. "We're not real fond of kids in our bar, or young people," he said. The bar's main clientele is people in their 30s and 40s, he and Carlson said after the hearing.
Their videotape surveillance shows the bartender examining the identification for at least 40 seconds, he testified.
"We're very conscientious. We believe in upholding the law," Spriet said. "I'm just asking for mitigation or fairness in the fine or suspension or whatever is deemed to be appropriate for us."
Mayor Kevin Burns, the liquor commissioner, asked whether the license presented was a vertical or horizontal one; the state gives vertical licenses to people younger than 21, with the words "Under 21 until" their birth date written next to their photo.
Michelle Adams, the city's prosecutor, recommended a fine of $1,000 and a one-day suspension of the license. Burns has five days to make his decision, and told the bar's owners he would do so by the end of the day Friday.
Last year, four pubs were fined $1,000 apiece and served one-day suspensions for the same offense, caught during a sting during Swedish Days.