Cary fines bar $750 for after-hours drink

The Cary Liquor Control Commission on Tuesday night handed down a $750 fine to a bar that served alcohol beyond its 1 a.m. closing time.

At the same time, Commissioner Steve Lamal decided not to punish the owner of Kelli's Cuckoo's Nest on allegations that police responded to the establishment 36 times throughout the course of a year - and that was only because owner Kelli Joseph says she has taken steps to keep the peace.

Complaints regarding the repeated police attention, logged between November 2007 and November 2008, included removing unruly patrons, arresting people on outstanding warrants and breaking up fights at the bar, according to the complaint.

"The frequency bothered me, but I don't want it to dissuade you from calling the cops," Lamal said.

Joseph, who opened the bar in January 2000, said she has hired a security guard, is mandating that by Thursday her employees are trained on who can legally drink alcohol, keeps a list of people who are not welcome at the establishment and is on the scene daily to ensure all goes smoothly.

"I heard what I wanted to hear - that you're making changes," Lamal told Joseph. "You're too good a person to have that crap going on."

But Lamal was not as forgiving on the complaint that a bartender served alcohol to a patron after closing time, an act Lamal said runs contrary to local law.

In addition to the $750 fine, Joseph was ordered to pay attorney's fees on the offense.

During the hearing, Joseph's attorney Jim Bishop argued that the existing law on Cary's books doesn't specifically state that alcohol cannot be consumed once the business is closed for the night.

"It was a vague ordinance used against my client," Bishop said after Lamal made his ruling.

But Lamal wasn't interested in that line of thinking.

"If you're in there cleaning the floor... and we see somebody who may or may not be an employee drinking at the bar (after hours), I have a problem with that," Lamal said. "I'm not at all compelled by your defense at all, not in the least."

For her part, Joseph said the fine was too high for a first infraction and has not decided whether to appeal the ruling to the state panel.

She declined to comment on the ruling itself.