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Liquor charge showdown Nathalie Heiberg-Harrison Northern News Services Published Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The restaurant has been charged with allowing an intoxicated person to enter and remain on the premises. The five-member board heard from five witnesses Monday, including liquor inspector Kerry Nicholson, who said he found four intoxicated people at the restaurant at 1:24 a.m. on March 5. He said one man, who was sitting at a table with two friends, had been denied entry from the Gold Range bar the same night. "He was slurring his speech and frothing at the mouth," Nicholson said. "At the Gold Range he had been staggering and swaying." Nicholson also reported a loud, boisterous man at the back of the restaurant who swore and threw soy sauce packets at him. He said the man was accompanied by a woman who was "bobbing her head and slurring her words." Nicholson added that when Corner Mart owner Jimmy Kong arrived, he became argumentative and raised his voice. "He basically went from a zero to a 10 right off the bat. At that point in time I felt like my safety may have been at risk," he said of Kong. While being interviewed in front of the board, Kong countered that after working on 50 Street for 25 years, he can easily distinguish drunk patrons from sober ones. "They looked very normal for me," he said. When asked about his interaction with Nicholson, Kong said he wasn't argumentative, but may have raised his voice because he was talking "seriously." "He (liquor inspector Kerry Nicholson) was acting like a liquor god. I kind of challenged his authority and he got upset." Last month, the Raven Pub and Sam's Monkey Tree Pub were both found guilty of the same charge. The Raven was fined $1,500, while the Monkey Tree was fined $3,000 and had its liquor licence suspended for two days. The liquor board is hearing two more cases this week - both involving the Gold Range - today and tomorrow.
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