Hearing scheduled for tavern appeal

March 28, 2002|BY DAN KULIN /Staff Writer

A ruling on the Mulberry Street Tavern's appeal of a liquor board ruling could come June 28 when a hearing on the appeal is scheduled to be heard in Washington County Circuit Court, board attorney John Salvatore said Wednesday.

In December the liquor board, formally known as the County Board of License Commissioners, decided the tavern was responsible for late-night raucous behavior that disturbed neighbors. The board placed the tavern's liquor license on probation for one year, ordered the business closed for 20 days, and fined tavern-owner R. Dennis Hollinger $2,500.

Within days of the ruling, Hollinger appealed the decision to circuit court.

The tavern at 6 N. Mulberry St. was allowed to stay open pending the outcome of the appeal.

A court hearing on the appeal is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. on June 28 in the Washington County Courthouse at 95 W. Washington St., Hagerstown, according to court records.

The liquor board originally charged the tavern with disrupting the peace and safety of the community after receiving numerous complaints from police and neighbors.

The liquor board held hearings on the charges on Oct. 24 and Nov. 28, during which several neighbors testified that bar patrons were being loud and disrupting the neighborhood when they left the bar. One tavern neighbor showed videotapes of late-night activity outside the tavern.

Between the October and November board hearings, Hollinger met with some neighbors, started closing the bar an hour earlier, stopped having a disc jockey on Thursday nights and had his employees remind bar patrons that when they left the bar they should do so quietly and quickly.

Hollinger and his attorney Roger Schlossberg could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

Schlossberg has called the liquor board's ruling "arbitrary and capricious."

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