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A Syracuse business received approval Thursday from the Kosciusko County Alcoholic Beverage Board for their alcohol license to be renewed after the board reviewed a violation the business had in the past year.
The renewal with a violation was held over from the October meeting because no representative of the business attended that meeting.
The beer and wine dealer - grocery store license was for Gurleen Petroleum Inc., 10010 N. Turkey Creek Road, Syracuse, doing business as Angel Food Mart.
Explaining the violation to the board, Ramandeep Singh, president of the company, said a regular customer bought a beer at the store and the clerk didn’t check her identification. When the customer walked out of the store, a police officer saw her with the beer and stopped the customer as she was a minor.
Manager Sukhjinder Singh said the clerk, who had only been working at Angel Food Mart a few weeks, was fired after the violation.
Excise officer April Tackett asked, if the clerk had only worked there a couple weeks, what training does the business provide to its employees regarding the sale of restricted products, whether that’s alcohol or tobacco.
Ramandeep said they have signage posted and they tell their employees to check IDs for anyone who looks under the age of 40.
Since that violation, Tackett asked if they’ve had any violations since, for alcohol or tobacco. She was told they did not. Ramandeep said they also paid $1,000 and a fine of $500 for the violation and their license was suspended for three days.
Board member Mike Hall asked Ramandeep how long he’s owned the business, and Ramandeep said 10 years in February and this was their first offense.
Board member Dan Woods made a motion to approve the license renewal, Hall seconded the motion and the motion passed 3-0, with Board President Alan Alderfer absent.
Renewals with no violations approved by the board included:
• Wawasee American Legion Post 223 Inc., 1008 S. Huntington St., Syracuse, doing business as American Legion Wawasee Post 223, beer, wine and liquor - fraternal club license.
• Clouse Enterprise Inc., 801 N. Huntington St., Suite 12, Syracuse, doing business as Down Under, beer, wine and liquor - restaurant (210-1) license.
• Bar 13 LLC, 131 N. First St., Pierceton, doing business as Bar 13, beer, wine and liquor - restaurant (210) license.
• B & E Holding LLC, 112 W. Main St., Mentone, doing business as Viking Liquors, beer, wine and liquor - package store license.
• T & C Restaurants LLC, 110 E. Main St., Syracuse, doing business as Lakeside Restaurant, beer, wine and liquor - riverfront and lakeside license.
• El Guadalajara 3 Warsaw Inc., 1115 W. Lake St., Warsaw, doing business as El Guadalajara, beer, wine and liquor - restaurant (210-1) license.
There were no remonstrators against the renewals without any violations.
The Kosciusko County Alcohol Beverage Board is a recommending body to the state commission, who will make the final decision on the license renewals.
