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Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services
 Top Knight, LeFrolic before Liquor Licensing Board on charge of allowing drunkenness on premises. Justice Department tells LeFrolic owner Pierre LePage of proposed 30-day closure for the incident. LePage granted adjournment until Feb. 26. Charges against the Top Knight adjourned because bar not given enough notice of hearing. Handwritten note from within the Justice Department says Top Knight co-owner Gordon Wray met with Deputy Justice Minister Don Cooper. Note says Wray "incensed" about handling of charges against his bar and had heard of possible 45-day closure for LeFrolic. Note contains his comments "no sense of proportionality" in sentencing and asks, "Who is overseeing the liquor board?" Director of Legal Services Karan Shaner e-mails Justice lawyer prosecuting the Top Knight and LeFrolic cases. Shaner notes Cooper's conversation with Wray. She asked lawyer, who was considering a 30-day or more closure, to submit a brief on the facts for Cooper. Charges against Top Knight dropped at Liquor Board hearing. Justice lawyer tells board Crown reviewed case and there is no longer enough evidence to proceed. The Crown reaches a plea bargain with LeFrolic. Liquor licence suspended for one day. Lawyer for Gold Range Bar, also before board on a liquor charge, raised allegations of potential "bias" at the hearings. Justice Minister Charles Dent defends decision to drop case against the Top Knight saying he "hopes" no favouritism at play. Members of the Liquor Licensing Board meet with Minister of Finance Floyd Roland at Explorer Hotel to discuss more training for inspectors and board members, improved recruiting practices and more board control over its own budget. Liquor Board Chair John Simpson resigns. Roland tells members of the legislative assembly no "red flags" had been raised by the board. He described issues discussed at the meeting as "not critical." CBC Radio reports board members were pressured by the GNWT to impose more lenient sentences on bars. Roland and Dent hold a press conference at the legislative assembly to deny the allegations. - Compiled by Andrew Raven
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CBC Radio reported Thursday that deputy minister of Justice, Don Cooper, had pressured the board to back off from tougher fines and suspensions against NWT bars.
Both Justice Minister Charles Dent and Finance Minister Floyd Roland -- who is responsible for administering the NWT Liquor Act -- called the allegations serious, but hotly denied that the senior bureaucrat had pressured the board.
Dent pointed to an e-mail message from former board chair John Simpson, dated Feb. 28, where he refutes allegations that the deputy minister threatened the board.
"It has left senior officials in this government under a cloud that I don't think is deserved," said Dent. "I think this has been handled properly in all respects. I have full confidence in the deputies."
According to Department of Justice e-mail obtained by Northern News Services under the Access to Information Act, however, Cooper had a conversation with Gordon Wray, part-owner of the Black Knight and Top Knight bar and public critic of the NWT Liquor Licensing Board.
According to Justice documents, Wray was upset at charges levied against the LeFrolic Bistro bar in Yellowknife as well as the handling of the charge against the Top Knight.
In the Feb. 11 e-mail -- two days after a pair of liquor board proceedings against LeFrolic and Top Knight Bar were adjourned -- the head of the Justice department's legal division, Karen Shaner, wrote that Cooper had come to see her about the concerns raised by Wray.
According to Shaner, Cooper was told by Wray that a possible 45-day sentence for the LeFrolic charge was too harsh. Wray was also "incensed" at the way he found out about the charge against his own Top Knight through the newspaper.
In a briefing note from department prosecutor, Brian Asmundson, -- dated the next day -- it is written that the charge against LeFrolic, despite having no previous convictions, was "one of the most serious cases" the department had seen in a while.
The note, based upon witness statements, states that a patron had been overserved to the point that when he stood up, he fell over backwards and struck his head, knocking himself unconscious. He was taken to hospital.
As a result, the department had planned to recommend to the liquor board that they suspend LeFrolic's liquor licence for "30 or more days."
But when the case returned before the board, Feb. 26, the prosecutor came forward with a plea agreement with LeFrolic, and a recommendation that the bar be suspended for only one day. Due to the plea arrangement Justice had made with LeFrolic, there was no examination of the witnesses before the board.
The charge against the Top Knight for allowing public drunkenness on the premises, meanwhile, had been thrown out the day before because of a lack of evidence. Although two weeks before, Justice was prepared to proceed at the initial hearing on Feb. 9, which was adjourned.
In the interim, there was a re-investigation of the charge by a Justice department lawyer. New testimony from a Top Knight bartender contradicted the liquor inspector's assertion that a drunken patron had been served wine in a wine glass.
As the liquor inspector had not collected a sample of the liquid and the bartender was willing to testify under oath water had been in the glass and not wine, the Justice department decided not to proceed with the case.
When asked if there was any connection between the dropped charges and Wray's conversation with a senior justice official, Minister Dent insisted Cooper broke no rules.
"I suspect (Cooper) was sought out by (Wray) in this situation," said Dent.
"I doubt that he sought out the bar owner but it is a small town. I've run into Mr. Wray myself in various situations.
"If the situation is brought up to you by somebody that causes you to have some question about the process, then you follow through on that. But in no instance did Mr. Cooper make a recommendation to the way the case should be prosecuted."
Wray doesn't recall
Wray said he is unaware of having any conversation with Cooper about LeFrolic, although he remembers talking to him one Friday night at his downstairs bar, the Black Knight Pub, about his complaint that he wasn't given proper notice about the charge laid against Top Knight.
He said Cooper is being unfairly scrutinized by the media.
"People are trying to make connections that just because Donny Cooper goes to bars that he has somehow done something wrong here," said Wray, who characterized Cooper as more of an acquaintance than a friend.
"Donny Cooper, as far as I can tell, and I listened to CBC (Thursday), Justice and Finance were saying to the liquor board, 'what are you doing?'"
LeFrolic owner Pierre LePage said he was prepared to plead Feb. 9, but was told by a Justice lawyer that the department was seeking a 30-day or more suspension against his bar. He decided to wait and hire a lawyer instead.
He later reached a plea agreement with the department, and the bar's license was suspended by the liquor board for one day.
"I probably could've won the thing, but it would've cost thousands," said LePage.
Acting liquor board chair Liz Danielsen said the board didn't know very much about the evidence Justice had compiled against LeFrolic.
She said all that was presented at the Feb. 26 hearing was a statement of facts, as agreed upon by LePage and the department. The board only knew more when witnesses came forward after the hearing to complain about the light sentence, she said.
"There was a lot of information that didn't come forward," said Danielsen. "That's the process. It allows for agreed statement of facts, and we have to accept that."
Danielsen said she suspects hostilities between the board and the GNWT will continue for some time yet.
"I guess GNWT is feeling like they got a little bit of egg on their face right now, but I doubt we've heard the end of it."
