2 of the city's Liquor License Commissioners believe that The Still is serving people who are intoxicated.
AGAWAM – Liquor License Commissioners have agreed to lift the alcohol license of The Still for three days unless it goes for a year without any major problems.
Commission Chairman Kenneth J. Largay and Commissioner Robert W. Swikalus came to that consensus following a public hearing Wednesday about the 858 Suffield St. bar.
They formed the opinion that the bar has been serving intoxicated patrons, something both the bar’s manager, Rebecca L. Maslar, and its attorney, Richard C. Morrissey, denied.
“I don’t see the control there that they should have. ... I see a problem,” Swikalus said.
“The issue is a serving problem,” Largay said.
The commissioners said several bar patrons have been stopped for operating under the influence of alcohol after leaving it since the beginning of the calendar year.
There were incidents on March 13, March 26, April 23 and May 13, according to Largay.
Maslar said Wednesday the bar does not serve intoxicated people and that its bartenders follow the state’s Training and Intervention Procedures for Servers guidelines.
Morrissey also said the bar follows state guidelines.
The attorney said one patron in question says he did not have a drink at the bar, another wrote a letter to the same effect and another patron says he was at The Still for only 15 minutes May 13.
“How many drinks could they have possibly served him?” Morrissey asked.
The bar also had a 29-year-old Suffield man testify that on March 26 he spent three hours at The Still, but drank only a glass of water after having spent considerable time beforehand at an establishment in West Springfield.
The man, who refused to take a breathalyzer test, said he declined to take a field sobriety test because he has a problem with one of his legs.
The two commissioners also stipulated that the bar must have a uniformed police officer on duty Friday and Saturdays from 10:30 p.m. to 2 a.m.
Asked if he plans to appeal the board’s decision, Morrissey responded, “I don’t believe it would serve any purpose to appeal.”