SWAMPSCOTT — Hawthorne By-the-Sea, Red Rock Bistro and Paradiso Ristorante are not going to serve their one-day liquor license suspensions without a fight.
All three businesses are requesting that the Board of Selectmen delay their suspensions, which the board ordered them to serve tomorrow. The delay would allow time for appeals that the restaurants have filed with the Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission to be reviewed by the state agency.
The selectmen planned to hold a special meeting early this morning to discuss the request. In case the selectmen decide not to grant the postponement, Red Rock and Paradiso filed a parallel petition in Lawrence Superior Court seeking an injunction requiring the board to grant a stay.
The suspensions came after police and the ABCC conducted a sting operation on Feb. 8 in which eight of the town's 11 licensed alcohol purveyors sold to an underage male who was working with police. Six of the licensees, including the petitioners along with Uno Chicago Grill, Beijing Palace and Fiory's Market, were given one-day suspensions that are scheduled to be served tomorrow. Thai Thani Restaurant and C&L Package Store began serving their three-day suspensions yesterday.
In an appeal filed with the ABCC, attorney Joseph Dever said the one-day suspensions imposed on Red Rock and Paradise — both first-time offenders — were "an arbitrary and capricious abuse of the Local Board's discretion."
Selectman Marc Paster said the appeal would leave punishment in the hands of the ABCC. It could either choose to overrule the board's decision or issue a fine instead of the suspension.
"That is what I would like to see," Paster said, "out of fairness."
Paster opposed the suspensions at the March 18 meeting where punishment was decided, but he was unable to persuade his fellow board members to lean toward a lighter sentence.
According to Town Administrator Andrew Maylor, the punishment was lighter compared to what was done in the recent past. Maylor said that in a similar sting operation in 2002, first-time offenders were issued three-day suspensions with an option of paying a fine. Maylor explained that the 2002 punishments came directly from the ABCC.
This time, the selectmen are the ones deciding punishment and do not have the ability to issue a fine option.
In a letter to the Board of Selectmen, Dever said both restaurants have reservations tomorrow including several large parties with 10 or more people. The restaurants are concerned their patrons will be "seriously inconvenienced by the suspension."
He also writes that postponing the suspension would not "impair the Board's ability to enforce its licensing laws, but instead allow both establishments to better accommodate their patrons, wait-staff and kitchen staff."
Dever could not be reached yesterday for comment.
