Abingdon restaurant owner calls alcohol suspension unfair

BY DEBRA McCOWN
BRISTOL HERALD COURIER
ABINGDON, Va. – Withers Hardware Restaurant won’t be allowed to serve another mixed drink until at least mid-July, said Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control officials.
After ABC agents filed complaints about activity at the restaurant, its licenses to sell beer, wine and liquor are suspended for at least 60 days and up to an additional 30 days, according to documents from an agency hearing.
“It is unfair,” said restaurant owner Hazel Ramos-Cano. “It’s not my fault that people bring in some contraband drinks. It’s not my fault that someone walks out with a beer in spite of the fact that we have a person watching the door.”
Ramos-Cano, a 71-year-old elder in the Presbyterian Church, said she does not drink alcohol and has never faced so much as a traffic violation.
In 13 years of doing business in town, she said she’s never had a problem with ABC licenses, and the suspension may cost her $40,000 in lost income.
“I don’t see the purpose of doing this,” said kitchen manager Don Heath.
Dining room manager Dwyane Anderson said the suspension has affected business and has temporarily ended the restaurant’s live entertainment – effectively shutting down Abingdon’s nightlife and shifting the downtown restaurant crowd to establishments around Interstate 81’s Exit 7.
“We are basically singled out because we are the only restaurant in Abingdon that’s open after 10 [p.m.],” Anderson said. “If anything happens in Abingdon after 10, they always come to the Hardware.”
Based on the current meals tax rate of 6 percent, the loss of business could also mean $2,400 in lost revenue for the town.
The first set of complaints by ABC agents stemmed from a night during last year’s Virginia Highlands Festival; the second were from November.
From the first complaints, an administrative hearing officer found that the restaurant management allowed unauthorized beverages to be kept and consumed, allowed intoxicated people to loiter on the premises, allowed consumption of alcohol after 2 a.m., allowed consumption of alcohol by an employee on duty and allowed beer to be removed from authorized areas.
According to hearing documents, ABC agents watched restaurant patrons drinking after 2 a.m., dancing on the bar as employees cheered them on and customers staggering drunk through the restaurant and parking lot.
The penalty imposed was a 90-day ABC license suspension, which was reduced to 60 days with the payment of a $2,000 fine.
From the second complaints, an administrative hearing officer found that the restaurant allowed consumption of alcohol by an intoxicated person. The penalty is a 30-day suspension, which will be reduced to 10 days if the restaurant pays a $3,000 fine.
Ramos-Cano said she paid a lawyer $1,500 to represent her in a 25-minute hearing, but she was not aware she faced another suspension – or that she has until June 9 to appeal before the decision becomes final.
She said her honesty and lack of knowledge about the legal process has added to her troubles – a document from the first hearing, in which she was not represented by a lawyer, describes her attitude as “lackadaisical” and a reason for “imposition of a significant penalty.”
She said her other businesses – which include two inns, a catering company and other businesses in town – are helping to support the restaurant during this difficult time. The suspension will not drive the restaurant out of business because, she said, “There is so much love and care that has been given here.”
Her saving grace has been bus tours coming into town for plays at the Barter Theatre, she said.
Ramos-Cano says the suspension is a major embarrassment, and she speaks in frustration about the seven-day-a-week effort she puts into her business.
“This is so haltingly significant,” she said. “It’s painful. You get 14 people coming in and they start ordering beer. We say, ‘We’re sorry. Our beer and alcohol is suspended,’ and they walk out.”
She said the Hardware has made some staff changes and will implement new policies to avoid future violations when the restaurant’s liquor license is reinstated. Last call will be at 12:30, she has changed the glassware to plastic and has added two staff members to monitor the parking lot.
Meanwile, ABC spokeswoman Becky Gettings said there’s no simple formula to determine when an establishment loses its license permanently, and she would not comment on how close the Hardware is to doing so.
“It’s case by case, based on the hearing,” she said.
dmccown@bristolnews.com | (276) 791-0701