Kentucky alcohol board mulling fate of Angels and Wings liquor license

By John Whitlock
Kentucky Press Association News Bureau

Angels and Wings will have to wait a little longer before finding out if the state will ground the Corbin restaurant for good.
Tuesday, an administrative hearing before the Kentucky Alcoholic Beverage Control Board was held to address complaints concerning public drunkenness, minors with alcohol and problems with the percentage of food versus alcohol sales.
Although Angels and Wings Manager Scott Johnson was in Florida and did not attend the hearing, his father Earl Johnson and London attorney John Kelley represented the restaurant.
In one of his first actions as attorney for Angels and Wings, Kelley requested a continuance since he had only been hired less than 18 hours earlier.
The ABC Board, consisting of Distilled Spirits Administrator Steven Edwards, Malt Beverage Administrator John Barton and Chairman Lavoyed Hudgins, rejected the motion, saying Angels and Wings had plenty of time to secure an attorney and several witnesses in the case were on hand and prepared to testify.
The restaurant and sports bar, located in the Tri-County Square Shopping Center, faces several allegations from the licensing board including providing alcohol to a minor and selling alcoholic beverages to intoxicated persons.
The person at the center of the underage drinking allegations, a 16-year-old girl, said she had been drinking with friends prior to coming to Angels and Wings at around 8 p.m. March 21.
The girl testified she wanted to get a ride home from a relative who was at the restaurant for dinner and karaoke.
While her relative, Frances Nicole Zadronzy, and the relative’s long-time boyfriend Stanley Roberts, sang, socialized with other patrons and played games at the bar, the girl says she was pouring small amounts of an “Alabama Slammer” and later beer into an amber glass while no one was looking.
Representatives from Angels and Wings later said that at their restaurant, beer and alcoholic beverages go in clear glasses and soft drinks go in darker glasses.
The girl said she tried to hide her actions because she knew she would be in trouble with Zadronzy and the restaurant staff.
Zadronzy and Roberts told the board that they were unaware the girl had been drinking until she was given a preliminary breathalyzer test by Corbin Police Department Cpl. Jason Williams.
Although the girl initially said Roberts had bought her one of the Alabama Slammers, Williams said she later recanted.
After interviewing the girl, Zadronzy and Roberts, Williams arrested the trio, charging both of the adults with alcohol intoxication, endangering the welfare of a minor, unlawful transaction with a minor and wanton endangerment.
Williams told the board that both Roberts and Zadronzy had bloodshot eyes, slurred speech and “the strong presence of alcohol” around them.
Angels and Wings bartender Terry Wilson contends he didn’t know the couple had too much to drink until the police arrived.
The Corbin officer said the department received a call from Social Services that a minor was drinking alcohol at the restaurant and went to investigate shortly after 11 p.m., making the arrests about 30 minutes later.
Although the cases against Zadronzy and Roberts were settled in plea agreements, Kelley argued their actions were not in question before the ABC board and that the police had not interviewed Angels and Wings staff or patrons at the time of the arrests.
Steve Humphress, general counsel for the ABC, said state regulations prevent an establishment from selling, giving away or delivering alcoholic beverages and that the restaurant didn’t take enough care to make sure minors didn’t have access to the drinks.
Kelley said Humphress had no proof Angels and Wings was responsible for the minor getting her hands on the alcohol.
Because the state is considering revoking Angels and Wings’ liquor license, Humphress introduced an agreed order between the state and the restaurant concerning penalties for violations in the fall of 2005. Humphress said the board should consider the order if and when the hearing enters the penalty phase to “show a history of violations.”
The ABC’s lead investigator in the case, Ray Roberts, said he started his investigation about a week following the arrests.
Ray Roberts said the staff should have noticed the teenaged girl sitting at a table with a pitcher of beer on it by herself for extended periods of time.
“The waitresses are trained to observe and watch for underage drinking,” Ray Roberts said.
But Earl Johnson, who said he visits the restaurant “just about every night” for his son, contends he saw nothing out of the ordinary that night.
“Pitchers (of beer) are always set away from any minors,” Earl Johnson said.
As part of his unpaid duties at the restaurant, Earl Johnson said he spends most of the night walking around, talking to customers and “watching.”
“And I never saw (the minor) drink,” Earl Johnson said.
A low-quality surveillance video made by the restaurant staff and watched by Ray Roberts was inconclusive.
The first witnesses in another set of allegations concerning the restaurant’s percentage of food to alcohol sales testified before the hearing was adjourned for the day.
Samantha Winn and Courtney Woods, who worked with both Southern Wine and Spirits, said they were holding a promotional campaign at Angels and Wings when police arrived to make sure the restaurant was adhering to the 70-30 percent rule, which says the bulk of sales must come from food.
During the event, Winn and Woods would hand out free merchandise to patrons who tried their employer’s products.
When they arrived, the women put their coats and purses inside the manager’s office. During the course of the evening, the pair was escorted into the office to retrieve more promotion items “five or six times,” Woods said.
Until the police and ABC officers arrived to check the books, both women said.
Once the police presence was public, Winn and Woods said they were told the person who had the key to office was gone for the evening and they would have to come back to retrieve their property.
Woods, who complained about the situation to restaurant staff, said an older woman told her that the staff would let them in the office after the police left. Woods said someone was sent outside to make sure the police had left the premises before the women were allowed to get their possessions.
With several more witnesses left to be heard, the board decided to continue the hearing until a later date.
Board members said the date for the continuance should be announced by Friday.