Yellowknife (Oct 17/03) - Following their fourth conviction for over-serving alcohol, an Inuvik pub will be closed for five days.

Frosty's Arctic Pub appeared before the NWT Liquor Board last Thursday facing a charge of over-serving.

Without legal representation, bar manager Anna Mae Fairley made her case to the board. She said that the customer in question had a medical condition and a speech impediment that could be viewed as drunkenness to someone who did not know him.

Fairley called Frosty's bartender Rita Kovacs to testify to the man's condition. Kovacs said she's known the customer for a year-and-a-half and got to know his limitations.

"I know when he's drunk and when he's going through alcohol withdrawals," Kovacs said.

She told the board she had refused the customer service "many, many times," but assured that he was not intoxicated on the day the bar was charged.

"Normally he doesn't make it through the front door," Kovacs said.

Waitress Eunice Thrasher testified that she also knew the habits and behaviour of the customer.

"He didn't seem high to me," Thrasher said.

She testified that once told to leave, the patron got up from his chair and left the pub without help.

Although Fairley said she asked him to testify, the patron did not appear at the hearing.

Liquor inspector Jonathan Bennett testified that he had been inspector for six months before charging Frosty's with over-serving.

Bennett said the man was "wobbling, glassy-eyed and smelling of alcohol."

Fairley asked Bennett if he held any animosity towards Frosty's Arctic Pub and he said he did not.

"Even though your wife was in the pub until closing Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday before this took place," Fairley asked.

Bennett replied he had no animosity towards the establishment.

In closing statements Bradley Patzer, legal counsel for NWT Justice, said since the key witness for the defence did not appear, most of the defence testimony was "third-party hearsay" and carried little weight.

"Frosty's is not new to this type of charge," Patzer said, recalling three previous convictions on Feb. 21, May 12 and Sept. 26 of last year.

Patzer recommended a four- to five-day suspension along with a fine.

In closing Fairley said they have done their best to comply with regulations.

She noted some 40 inspections by RCMP and about the same from the liquor inspector where there were no violations.

After a brief recess, John Simpson, Chair of the Liquor Control Board, announced the guilty verdict.

"This is the third violation in two years," Simpson said. "We view that as a very serious offence."

Simpson said Frosty's will be closed for five days, from 10 a.m. Oct. 17 to Oct. 23 and ordered a $2,000 fine.

Earlier at the same hearing, the Cabin Lounge at the Finto Hotel was fined $500 for serving alcohol to a minor.