Drying Out
New Mexico ‘serious’ about revoking liquor licenses; They say 3 establishments have continued to violate laws

The Silver Stallion is one of three businesses in town that may lose their liquor license due to violations. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

By Kevin Killough
Staff writer

King Dragon and Club Zen is one of three businesses in town that may lose their liquor license due to violations. Paramount Liquor and Lounge (not pictured) was also cited. [Photo by Brian Leddy/Independent]

GALLUP — It seems the state means business when it comes to enforcing the stricter regulations against liquor establishments that continue to violate state laws. Six bars — three in Gallup and three in Farmington — are scheduled to face charges that may result in the revocation of their liquor license. If that is the outcome of the case, it will be unprecedented in New Mexico.

“It’s just never happened,” said Robert Hagan, spokesman for the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department.
On Sept. 19, the department moved to revoke the license of holders with multiple such citations.

“If found guilty of the charges, they face a fine of $10,000 and a revocation of their license,” Hagan said. “This is a very serious step. A liquor license is a valuable piece of property. They can cost upwards of $200,000.”

According to a department news release, the bars being charged are Paramount Liquor and Lounge, Silver Stallion, and the King Dragon Chinese Restaurant in Gallup. The Turnaround, Phoenix, and Big City in Farmington are also facing charges.

Superintendent of the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department Edward Lopez, Jr. said today the department will not accept any negotiated settlement with any of the six bars.

“Licensees have had more than two years notice of these regulations; there is no excuse for any license holder to evade their consequences,” Lopez said.

The hearings for the Gallup bars are currently scheduled for Dec. 5.

Three strikes
“The state is trying to demonstrate that we’re very, very serious about cracking down on DWI,” Hagan said.

The hearings, he explained, are part of that effort. In October 2006, the department revised its liquor control regulation to make it easier to revoke the liquor license of establishments that repeatedly violate laws again selling to an intoxicated individual or a minor. The new regulations reduced the number of violations required before losing a liquor license to three. Previously, the requirement was five violations in five months.

“The Richardson administration decided New Mexico needed to get tough on problem bars and liquor stores,” Hagan said. “These are bars where the management has not done an adequate job at controlling the dispensation of liquor.”

The state’s DWI Czar Rachel O’Connor spoke of the necessity of the rule in curbing DWI. “It is a fact that most people arrested for DWI in New Mexico are coming from bars and restaurants,” she said. “Those licensees who habitually over serve forfeit their licenses. That was the whole point of creating the Three Strikes regulations in the first place.”

In the past, it was much more common for license holders to settle on agreements between the department and the license holder. Often, Hagan said, this involved a $1,000 fine and a one or two day suspension of the license, which he noted could be a big loss in revenues for a busy bar. But the Three Strikes raises the stakes considerably.

The restrictions go beyond reducing the number of violations that trigger a loss of a liquor license. According to the RLD, when licensees faced revocation, they would sell and transfer their license before it was lost, profiting from the transaction. Three Strikes forbids the transfer of a license while citations are pending.

“Allowing a license owner who has been convicted of violations to profit by selling that license would completely thwart the purpose of the regulation. The Three Strikes rule is designed to drive home to liquor holders their serious responsibility to the community,” said Lopez.

Messages requesting comment for this story were left with the Paramount and Silver Stallion and were not returned. The manager at the King Dragon declined to comment.

Sting Operations
The citations are the result of sting operations, which identify violators. According to District Attorney Karl Gillson, the Department of Public Safety has assigned one full-time agent who patrols regularly for establishments selling to intoxicated persons and individuals.

Pete Olsen with the Department of Public Safety explained that plain clothes officers enter bars and watch for servers selling alcohol to individuals who appear intoxicated. When possible, the officers will attempt to get the person to submit to a voluntary Breathalyzer, which aids in the case against the license holder.

“A Breathalyzer certainly helps, but the officer can write a citation using the same criteria that servers use to determine if an individual is intoxicated,” Olsen said.

While the officers are not in uniform, Olsen admits that the establishments have come to identify the officers. They are often regular faces and do not use alcohol while patrolling for these violations. As such, the bars will adhere to regulations more stringently when officers are present. Olsen said that it does not compromise the “plain clothes” officer’s duty when he or she is identified.

“That’s the whole point of this. We don’t want to give tickets. We just want them to follow the law,” Olsen said.

He compared it to saturation patrols where large numbers of officers sit on highways with their lights on. Even without pulling anyone over, the drivers slow down in response to the increased police presence.