Will the Tiki Bar’s liquor license be revoked? That’s the decision facing the Calvert County Board of License Commissioners, commonly called the “Liquor Board,” after a special hearing Thursday evening.
The two-hour session was the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between Dr. Ronald Ross and owners of the Solomons establishment. Complicating the issue is that the board itself is party to a separate civil action involving both Dr. Ross and the Tiki Bar.
The board has 45 days in which to make a decision, but Chairman J. Allen Swann said at the conclusion, “We will probably not take that long. We will do our best to have a decision by our May 26 meeting.”
The hearing centered on the question of whether part-owner Michael Theesen of Lusby had a “pecuniary interest” in the Tiki Bar.
“This is a case of whether the licensee obeyed the law,” said Dr. Ross. “If there was no county resident with a financial interest of at least 10 percent, then the license is invalid and must be revoked.”
In a long presentation drawn from a 145-page compilation of law, affidavits, filing documents, applications, depositions and other items, Ross said that Theesen became a stockholder of the Tiki Bar in December 2006, but on March 25, 2011 stated in a deposition that he “did not purchase any stock in TP Tiki, Inc. and that he had no money interest in PT Tiki, Inc.”
According to Ross, “PT Tiki Inc. has not met the legal requirement of having a county resident who ha
