Published: September 03, 2009 08:48 pm      

Quick action

Liquor board comes down hard on tavern

Last week in this space, we implored local authorities to take swift and decisive action on law enforcement issues on Virginia Avenue. And that is exactly what they have done.

At a meeting of the Allegany County Board of License Commissioners on Wednesday, board members suspended the liquor license of bar owner Elwood Beavers for the Wonder Bar. The suspension is for six months and also carries the stipulation that he sell the license to someone else. The Wonder Bar location will never again have a liquor license, the board decided.

Attending the meeting were Cumberland Police Chief Charles Hinnant and several other police officers, as well as Mayor Lee Fiedler, City Administrator Jeff Repp and council members Pete Elliott and Brian Grim. Their attendance left no doubt that the city was fully expecting decisive action.

The suspension comes on the heels what the police chief described as a “melee” in which some 30 people participated. Three officers were assaulted. Fortunately, only one minor injury resulted.

The incident was not an isolated one. The board was told that from May through Aug. 31 of this year, there have been 20 officer-initiated complaints specifically identifying the Wonder Bar as the place where trouble began. There were five such complaints during the same time period in 2008.

By coming down hard on a bar that is at the center of much of the trouble on the Avenue, authorities have made it clear they will no longer tolerate liquor licensees who do not get rid of rowdy patrons.

Except for a few exceptions, Virginia Avenue is home to upstanding businesses and residents who obey the law and are a credit to Cumberland. It is unfair to broad-brush the entire Virginia Avenue area as a problem area.

The problems rest with a few — and police and the liquor board are now zeroing in on those few.