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Bar serves intoxicated patron
Paul Bickford Northern News Services Published Monday, August 30, 2010
The punishment was handed out to JJ's Rock 'n' Roll Lounge by the NWT Liquor Licensing Board following a compliance hearing in Fort Smith on Aug. 24. The establishment was found to have violated two sections of the NWT Liquor Act on June 26. Section 92 states that, "Except as may be permitted in the regulations, a licence-holder shall not allow an intoxicated person to enter or remain in a licensed premises." Section 93 states that, "No person shall sell or serve liquor at a licensed premises to or for an intoxicated person." The licensee had its Class A licence suspended from 10 a.m. on Sept. 23 to 10 a.m. on Sept. 27, and was also fined $750. Under changes to the NWT Liquor Act in April, an intoxicated person can only remain in a premises if certain conditions are met: the patron must be set aside and closely supervised, must not have access to alcohol and must be waiting for transportation. Don Kindt, chair of the NWT Liquor Licensing Board, said, in the case of JJ's Rock 'n' Roll Lounge, it sold liquor to a person who was buying drinks for the table where an intoxicated person was sitting. "They should have stopped serving to that individual who was intoxicated," he said. Kindt said, on the night in question, the intoxicated person still had alcohol in front of her when observed by a liquor inspector. The woman got up, finished her drink and had to be helped to leave the lounge by her escort. The board took into consideration that this is the licensee's second similar offence within the past year. Because of that, Kindt said the licence-holder should have been aware of the changes in the regulations. "I'd prefer to say that basically it's a symptom of poor supervision," he said, adding the manager of the bar, not the licence-holder, was at the lounge at the time. "It's the licence-holder's responsibility to make sure that their employees understand their responsibilities under the act," Kindt said. The board also ordered mandatory server training for the licensee and staff to occur within 45 days.
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