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June 18, 2009
Last week, we started to tell you about a case that not only broke the LC Adjudication Board's six-month minor decoy-only streak, but also aroused confusion and a bit of peevishness from the board members.
The facts: On December 5, 2008, two liquor control officers entered Juca Mexican Restaurant in Maalaea. They found patrons drinking beer, a pair of unregistered, underage workers in the kitchen and no one on site with the required paperwork to supervise the underage employees. Juca was hit with three counts: failing "to register and obtain approval from the director for minors"; failing "to provide adequate supervision at all times by an 'employee approved by the director' for employees under twenty-one years of age"; and failing "to have an on-duty employee duly approved by the director in active charge of the premises."
Owner Jose Franco represented himself. Struggling with an obvious language barrier (likely due to confusion, Franco became the first person in memory to ask for the charges to be publicly read), Franco was subjected to some stern, repetitive questioning that bordered on badgering. Chairman Donald Fujii called the case "unusual," and Director Frank Silva, who often doesn't speak at these get-togethers, was asked several points of clarification.
Franco admitted his error, but said he's had a hard time keeping licensed servers on staff given how slow business has been. And convincing a couple of teenagers who may not have spoken fluent English to go down and register with the LC? Let's just say no one was shocked that didn't happen.
Of course, in the end responsibility falls on the establishment. (Franco was issued a warning prior to his citations.) And responsibility came in the form of a $6,000 fine, $2,000 suspended.
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