The heavy wooden doors of The Crystal’s purple-panel and blue-tile facade hid a secret for three years before it was shut down last April — it owed the state almost $40,000 in corporate franchise taxes and was ordered to shut down until the debt was paid.
But the iconic bar was not technically operating illegally.
As confusion swirled around the bar’s 11-day closure, the three entities involved in the suspension process — the Liquor Control Commission, state liquor-enforcement agents and the Department of Taxation — pointed fingers while none took the blame for the three-year oversight.
The commission, which suspended The Crystal, 34 N. Court St., on Sept. 22, 2008, claimed liquor agents should have enforced the suspension. Yet in March 2009, when the commission slapped a new $1,500 fine on the bar for selling and furnishing alcohol to an underage informant, no red flags were raised.
“That’s our bad,” said Mark Anderson, the commission’s acting executive director. “We should have caught that.”
A clerical error made by the commission meant The Crystal wasn’t technically suspended.
“This was not handled properly, but at least it all came to light,” Anderson said.
But the three-year slipup has raised questions about how many other bars operate illegally under the noses of liquor officials.
The commission has issued 32 sanctions to the 23 Athens liquor-permit holders most-frequented by Ohio University students between 2006 and 2011 — but several popular bars were missing from the list.
And three of the permit holders sanctioned elected to serve a suspension rather than pay a fine:
May 15, 2009 — 19 South, a now defunct, 18-and-over bar, was slapped with a sanction for selling alcohol to underage informants. Faced with the choice of paying a $750 fine or serving a six-day suspension, the bar at 19 S. Court St. opted for the suspension.
Aug. 10, 2010 — Mexican restaurant Rio Grande, 122 W. Union St., received a similar sanction and opted to serve a seven-day suspension in order to dodge a $850 fine.
Rio’s manager could not be reached for comment.
June 1, 2010 — Atheneon Carry Out & Deli, 74 N. Court St., was also sanctioned and opted to serve a five-day suspension to avoid a $500 fine.
Workers refused to comment.
Although the commission issues sanctions — in either fine or suspension form — to liquor-permit holders, its participation stops there. Ensuring a suspension is served then lands in the hands of liquor agents from the investigative unit and, sometimes, Liquor Control compliance officers.
And because liquor agents only average about two trips to Athens each month, months elapse after a permit holder’s suspension date before agents check in on them.
SLIPPING THROUGH THE CRACKS
Cinching cold, metal handcuffs around an arrestee’s wrists, the police officer spouts off the now-familiar Miranda rights: “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law …”
The Fifth Amendment — due process of law — ensures that this happens, just as it ensures a permit holder be made aware of its suspension before it can be served.
After The Crystal’s 2008 suspension, the commission sent repeated certified mailings informing the bar of the decision, but those mailings were continually refused. Without the bar owner’s signature, the suspension couldn’t take effect.
“Do I think they were dodging it? It’s a definite possibility,” Anderson said. “But we can’t expect them to be responsive (to the order) if they didn’t know about it.”
When the first certified mailing was refused, Anderson said the commission should have sent a liquor agent to hand-deliver the suspension. But that was never done.
So the bar wasn’t technically suspended — but that doesn’t explain the commission’s 2009 oversight, just six months after the suspension was ordered.
“We dropped the ball,” Anderson said.
The three commissioners received The Crystal’s prior record before its March 2009 hearing, but for some reason, it was overlooked, he said.
“(The prior record) said failure to pay corporate franchise taxes. … They shouldn’t have been cited (for serving to underage people); they shouldn’t have been exercising their right to serve at all,” he added.
What did happen was that the bar continued pouring drinks for three years — even though its liquor license was supposed to be suspended.
Officials were alerted to the oversight only because the bar began paying off its debt.
Don Pepper, owner of The Crystal, could not be reached for comment.
QUESTIONABLE INVESTIGATION
Liquor agents busted underage patrons at The Crystal on two separate occasions between the bar’s 2008 suspension and its closure last April — but no one questioned the neon beer lights illuminating the rowdy patrons inside each night.
When the commission issues a suspension, liquor agents are supposed to enforce it. But, because of the commission’s blunder, the unit was unaware of it.
An oversight such as this, however, cannot explain why agents failed to check on the suspensions of several permit holders until months after the suspension time had elapsed.
“It has not come to my attention that (liquor agents with the Ohio Department of Public Safety Investigative Unit) are not performing that responsibility; but, on the other hand, it would not surprise me if there were some permit holders who weren’t checked,” Anderson said.
A sanctioned permit holder has 21 days to pay the proposed fine. After 28 days, it must serve a determined suspension, which liquor agents are expected to investigate, Anderson said.
But documents provided to The Post showed they aren’t following up in a timely manner.
Now-defunct 19 South was ordered to serve its suspension in June 2009. Liquor agents did not check on the bar until 9:30 a.m. one February 2010 morning.
Rio Grande was ordered to serve its suspension in September 2010. Liquor agents did not check on the restaurant until more than a year later, in December 2011.
Atheneon Carry Out and Deli was ordered to serve its suspension in July 2010. Liquor agents did not check on the bar until December 2011.
“When we receive notice of suspensions by either the Liquor Control Commission or the Ohio Department of Taxation, we will make attempts to see if they are serving; however, we will go about our regular activity,” said Julie Hinds, spokeswoman for the Ohio Investigative Unit, when asked about the elapsed time. “If someone complains a location is operating under a suspension order, we will make that a priority.”
On top of unpunctual enforcement, Athens Police can offer very little assistance in the process. Even if officers witness a violation, they cannot enforce the sanctions.
“If we see a violation, we can document it and refer it to (the investigative unit),” Athens Police Capt. Ralph Harvey said. “We observe it, but we couldn’t go in there and shut them down.”
Athens Police officers can fill out paperwork to inform liquor agents of a problem permit holder or area, but they haven’t filed a single written complaint in the past five years.
Hinds said this disparity is probably due to the complaints’ being oral as opposed to written.
Athens Police busted underage drinkers seven times at The Crystal but were unaware of the bar’s teetering position. Every time a bar is suspended by liquor control, all law enforcement in the area is supposed to receive a paper notice notifying them of the suspension, Hinds said.
The notice comes from the commission, but because the commission didn’t even know the bar was supposed to be suspended, they couldn’t inform local law enforcement.
UNEXPECTED LOCATIONS
Bar hoppers both underage and of-age alike traipse the bricks to Uptown’s most-popular bars, ignorant of which locales on the Court Street Shuffle checklist are “fine” hotspots.
From 2006 to 2011, Athens’ most-popular liquor-permit holders racked up almost $34,000 in fines, according to a Post investigation.
Some were sanctioned multiple times, but other jaunts within the city limits were never sanctioned.
Courtside Pizza, 85 N. Court St., has paid almost $3,000 in fines to the commission during the course of four incidents — two in 2007 and two in 2010 — making it the most sanctioned permit holder in the city.
Dave Cornwell, owner of the bar, would not comment.
But nine permit holders on the Court Street Shuffle checklist were not sanctioned a single time.
Some of the bars are known for shows and events that invite an 18-and-up crowd, such as Cat’s Den, 110 W. Union St., and the Smiling Skull Saloon, 108 W. Union St. Those establishments are supposed to check IDs at the door, but it becomes harder for bars to keep track of the underagers once inside.
Many freshman bands play at The Skull, which is why owner-operator Chris Wolf said he allows underage people into the bar.
“When they go to the bar, we ask for their ID,” Wolf said. “But fake IDs look really real now. … It’s not like 40 years ago when you used your mom’s.”
One recent OU graduate said he went to Cat’s Den every Tuesday for dollar-shot night when he was underage.
“They never carded,” he said.
No one at Cat’s Den would comment.
Sean Keiffer, a junior studying health care administration, chose a different watering hole before his legality transitioned at midnight March 11 — Red Brick Tavern, 14 N. Court St.
“(Red Brick wasn’t) strict with IDs, and everyone was able to get in (underage),” Keiffer said.
But Nick Green, manager of the bar, said bartenders’ card as best as they can.
“We keep an eye out for underage drinkers, but its Athens, so in general, there are a lot,” Green said. “It’s hard, but we put in the effort.”
Underage patrons are welcomed into the bar for Thursday shows, but a black “X” on their hands denotes their ineligibility to purchase drinks.
Red Brick, also known for its 18-and-up events, received one sanction from the commission in 2010 and paid the $1,800 fine. It was up for a second sanction that same year, but the case was dismissed.
Again, it’s difficult for Athens Police officers to help. In theory, they can cite a bar if they observe underage activity, but Harvey said it’s almost impossible for them to do.
“Most of the time, we are unable to prove anything against the bar itself,” Harvey said. “Did they really not know? I have my doubts.”
INFREQUENT OCCURENCE?
A lack of communication seemed to be the downfall of liquor officials in the case of The Crystal.
In the days after the bar was caught, no one was willing to take responsibility for the major oversight, though Anderson said that does not happen frequently.
“(The commission and liquor agents) can interact well, but in this instance, it didn’t happen,” he said. “I won’t deny things can slip through the cracks, but it does not happen frequently.”
But in a system where a well-attended bar can continue serving alcohol for three years while it was supposed to be under suspension — even after being brought under the commissioners’ noses — things are bound to fall through the cracks.
as218907@ohiou.edu
