News

Mayhem from teen party may cost vets lounge its license

By Lynne Hendricks
correspondent
Published: January 8, 2009

ROWLEY — The Rowley Veterans Association Lounge may lose its liquor license in the wake of a raucous, alcohol-fueled Halloween party that spilled into the street, resulting in multiple fights, a car hitting the building and trespassing, all involving intoxicated teens.

Lounge manager David Hardy has been asked to come before the Board of Selectmen on Feb. 2 and explain why the bar should be allowed to keep its liquor license after being cited for gross liquor law violations stemming from the crowded underage party held on the second floor of the hall above the crowded lounge on Halloween night.

A police report compiled that night cites a combination of four parking lot brawls, 10 citations of underage drinking and several cases of drunken antics as evidence the group's license should either be modified, suspended, or revoked. And police say that's excluding a peculiar case of breaking and entering that same evening by an intoxicated teen dressed as a pirate, who professed to have spent the night at the party.

According to a police report filed by Sgt. Stephen May, the officer was initially called out to the Veterans Association Lounge to investigate reports of a minor car crash. What he found upon arrival was a Ford F150 crashed into the east rear side of the building — the front end severely damaged and the nose fully immersed within the structure.

"There was heavy damage to the exterior wall, interior storage area and water pipes of the building," wrote May.

The driver of the truck was still in the driver's seat when May arrived on the scene, but the intoxicated man insisted he had no idea how the truck had driven itself into the side of the building, according to the report.

"He continually said, 'I have no idea how I got here — I was sleeping," according to May's report.

A Breathalyzer test administered one hour after the incident and four hours after the lounge closed for business that evening registered a blood alcohol level of 0.11. May found an underage male riding in the passenger seat of a separate vehicle who registered a 0.09 that evening, according to the report. Since Massachusetts has a "zero tolerance" policy for those under 21, a blood alcohol content of 0.02 is considered the legal limit.

Over the course of the evening, May responded to several other incidents at the lounge — one of which involved an altercation between two guests of the under-21 party that was being held in the upstairs function hall, where some kids were successfully buying drinks from the bar below, according to police reports.

That fight carried out into the lounge parking lot with dangerous consequences — sending one party suffering a broken jaw and serious brain trauma to Massachusetts General Hospital for surgery.

Three other fights reportedly took place over the course of the evening, though May was only witness to two of these. One involved a 19-year-old girl who also exhibited signs of extreme intoxication, and another sent one victim to the Anna Jaques Hospital emergency room. The perpetrator in that case was arrested and charged that evening with assault and battery, according to the report.

May reports just as things began winding down at the lounge, he was then dispatched to 10 Cedarwood Lane in Rowley, where a woman had called in a report of breaking and entering that involving an unidentified man dressed in a pirate costume. She and her husband told May they'd woken to noise in their living room and upon investigation found the 18-year-old in their house, having gained access through an unlocked door.

When the teen was later picked up by police, he told them he believed he was walking down his street in Newbury and not being able to find his house decided to seek shelter and somewhere warm to sleep. He was so intoxicated, May said the teen was difficult to understand. He said he'd spent the night at a lounge party.

The organizer of the under-21 Halloween party, Michael Foote, told May his mother was responsible for checking guests' identification at the door. If guests were of legal drinking age, they were provided with a bracelet, and if not, were given a hand stamp identifying them as underage.

According to May's report, there was no barrier between the upstairs and downstairs lounge, however, which gave party-goers free access to roam between the two floors. One of the underage drinkers, said to be 17 in the report, said he got a drink by wearing a mask.

Foote also stated managers Lonnie Brockelbank and David Hardy were not on duty Halloween night, and that the only two lounge staff members present were the two bartenders serving drinks on both floors.

The bartender reportedly working in the upstairs function hall was Linda Sudol, and the bartender on duty downstairs was identified as Bill Knight.

The Feb. 2 hearing will be held in selectmen chambers at 7:30 p.m. and will likely include testimony and recommendations from police Chief Kevin Barry and fire Chief James Broderick. Broderick was one of those who responded to an ambulance call at the lounge the same evening and said the lounge violated fire code by blocking designated fire exits to the building that night and by exceeding the building's maximum capacity per town ordinance.

The lounge is officially charged with multiple violations of selling alcohol to minors, selling alcohol to intoxicated persons, selling alcohol to nonmembers of the lounge and allowing disturbance and illegal activities to occur on the premises.