A Case Of Gotcha Times Two For Bay State Liquors

READING, MA. - The Reading Select Board delayed a decision Tuesday on whether to punish Bay State Liquors for selling liquor to minors in May. But based on evidence presented by Reading Police along with the reaction of the board, the Aug. 27 meeting probably won't end as well for owner Tarak Patel.

The first violation at the Main Street store occurred May 18 and involved beer and a broken headlight. A Toyota Highlander was pulled over by Reading Police that night with a defective headlight. Officers determined the five occupants were under the age of 21 and had four boxes of Bud Light in the trunk. The occupants said they purchased the beer at Bay State Liquors.

According to the police report, "They stated that they had previously used fake I.D.'s to purchase alcohol at Bay State Liquors. They said, however, that they were no longer being carded by staff so they no longer used an I.D. when purchasing alcohol there."

This led to May 31 when Reading police were conducting surveillance in an unmarked car outside Bay State Liquors. Two individuals who appeared to be under the age of 21 arrived at the store and parked directly next to an officer. The two carried on a conversation about purchasing alcohol with much of it heard by the officer nearby. The two couldn't have made it any easier for Reading Police.

Eventually they left the parking lot with police waiting for the opportunity to pull the car over. It didn't take long as the pair failed to signal a left turn onto Main Street from the parking lot and were pulled over. Inside the car police found Corona, Bud Light, and Jack Daniels. The two said they went to Bay State Liquors because it's well known they don't ID.

After those two stories were presented to the board by Detective Richard Abate, it was store owner Patel's turn, joined by his lawyer Jim DiGiulio. Patel has owned Bay State Liquors for three years and this was the store's first violations. Patel and DiGiulio mostly said the right things, including policy changes made by the store to ensure it never happens again.

So why was the case continued to Aug. 27?

The laws violated by the store included a town law that all employees selling alcohol must have TIPS training (Training and Intervention Procedures for Servers of alcohol). This was not the case at Bay State Liquors. Because of questions surrounding which laws were violated, the board asked town counsel to look into the violations and report back to them for the Aug. 27 meeting. As board member John Halsey said, "We do have to get it right."

In other board actions, they voted 4-1 (Halsey was opposed) to combine the March 3, 2020 local election with the presidential primary ... the ongoing debate over what color to paint the train depot was once again delayed, this time so the owner can do a chemical analysis of the paint on the building to determine what colors it's been painted in the past. The owner wants gray. The Historical Commission wants the current colors. There was no motion to let the good folks at The Purple Door have the final say ... Community Development Director Julie Mercier explained four zoning amendments that will be placed before November town meeting. The most entertaining is the effort to separate the definitions of marijuana and hemp. New state regulations have put a scare into stores like Reading's Your CBD Store. Right now it's a store with hemp products. But under the current state definition hemp and marijuana are treated the same. By separating the definitions, at least in Reading, the store will be legal by town zoning laws. As Halsey said of the amendment, "it's clear as mud."