ABC Renews License, Chides Bar Owner Over Violations
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
Despite three violations, a local tavern was awarded its alcohol license renewal Thursday by the Kosciusko County Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Time Out Inn of Warsaw was cited for three violations Oct. 18: one count of allowing minors to loiter, one count of sales to a minor and one count of expiration of permit. Their permit expired Oct. 15.
Thomas Clemens, owner of Time Out Inn and Downtown, said, "I never received a renewal notice from the state."
He said he knew it was not the responsibility of the state to remind him. Clemens said he knew his license was up for renewal in October, but since he just went through the process of getting a Sunday sales license in June, it caused him to forget about the renewal in October.
"It was just a terrible oversight," he said. "Under no circumstances would we have let it slip by."
Clemens has operated Time Out Inn since 1984, he said. The Inn has been open for 27 years. There are 12 employees at the Time Out Inn and only eight tend bar, he said.
Clemens told the ABC that in that time there had been only one violation of a minor in a bar previous to the Oct. 18 incident and they did not serve him.
The minor who was arrested in October for being underage had been in the bar on many other occasions, Clemens said. The minor had given the employees legal identification that showed he was of legal age during the past visits. But, he said, on Oct. 18, no one asked the minor for identification because the minor had been in there many times before and no one believed him to be underage.
"He had been carded before. Employees had him carded numerous times, but not on that night," Clemens said.
Excise Officer Heather Cleveland said the minor, arrested Oct. 18, had a blood alcohol level of .09. Cleveland said the minor told the police he was only at Time Out Inn for 30 minutes.
She also said, "It has never been fully established that he had or had not been in there before."
She told Clemens, "The reason we were there that night was because of complaints about intoxicated patrons."
Clemens said his employees told him the minor was at the bar for two hours, not just 30 minutes.
"You can't say he lied," Long told Clemens. "He's not on trial here."
She also told Clemens that with a fake identification card or with a real one, checking a driver's license wasn't enough anymore.
"You have 16-year-old girls who look like they're 35 and you have 35-year-old girls who look like they're 16," she said.
ABC member Darwin Call asked Clemens what he thought the ABC should do if Clemens came back with another violation in two months or six months. Clemens said he didn't know, he would have to think about it.
Clemens told the ABC, "Obviously there's something wrong with our drivers license bureau. It's too easy for kids to get their pictures on these identifications."
Cleveland said that regardless of anything said at the meeting, the fact of the matter was the Time Out Inn had a minor in its facilities and served him.
ABC members are consists of Darwin Call, Howard Long and Arden Warner. They meet on the first Thursday of every month. [[In-content Ad]]
Despite three violations, a local tavern was awarded its alcohol license renewal Thursday by the Kosciusko County Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
Time Out Inn of Warsaw was cited for three violations Oct. 18: one count of allowing minors to loiter, one count of sales to a minor and one count of expiration of permit. Their permit expired Oct. 15.
Thomas Clemens, owner of Time Out Inn and Downtown, said, "I never received a renewal notice from the state."
He said he knew it was not the responsibility of the state to remind him. Clemens said he knew his license was up for renewal in October, but since he just went through the process of getting a Sunday sales license in June, it caused him to forget about the renewal in October.
"It was just a terrible oversight," he said. "Under no circumstances would we have let it slip by."
Clemens has operated Time Out Inn since 1984, he said. The Inn has been open for 27 years. There are 12 employees at the Time Out Inn and only eight tend bar, he said.
Clemens told the ABC that in that time there had been only one violation of a minor in a bar previous to the Oct. 18 incident and they did not serve him.
The minor who was arrested in October for being underage had been in the bar on many other occasions, Clemens said. The minor had given the employees legal identification that showed he was of legal age during the past visits. But, he said, on Oct. 18, no one asked the minor for identification because the minor had been in there many times before and no one believed him to be underage.
"He had been carded before. Employees had him carded numerous times, but not on that night," Clemens said.
Excise Officer Heather Cleveland said the minor, arrested Oct. 18, had a blood alcohol level of .09. Cleveland said the minor told the police he was only at Time Out Inn for 30 minutes.
She also said, "It has never been fully established that he had or had not been in there before."
She told Clemens, "The reason we were there that night was because of complaints about intoxicated patrons."
Clemens said his employees told him the minor was at the bar for two hours, not just 30 minutes.
"You can't say he lied," Long told Clemens. "He's not on trial here."
She also told Clemens that with a fake identification card or with a real one, checking a driver's license wasn't enough anymore.
"You have 16-year-old girls who look like they're 35 and you have 35-year-old girls who look like they're 16," she said.
ABC member Darwin Call asked Clemens what he thought the ABC should do if Clemens came back with another violation in two months or six months. Clemens said he didn't know, he would have to think about it.
Clemens told the ABC, "Obviously there's something wrong with our drivers license bureau. It's too easy for kids to get their pictures on these identifications."
Cleveland said that regardless of anything said at the meeting, the fact of the matter was the Time Out Inn had a minor in its facilities and served him.
ABC members are consists of Darwin Call, Howard Long and Arden Warner. They meet on the first Thursday of every month. [[In-content Ad]]