The St. Mary’s County Alcohol Beverage Board (liquor board) has granted the transfer of the license of the Loveville Tavern, a bar with a checkered past. This year alone the establishment’s licensee was fined $1900 in July for a parking lot melee in May that caused police to shut down both sides of Route 5. Then in September the bar owners were fined $1,000 for selling to an underage police informant during a sting operation during two days in July and August.
In the sting operation the server did not check the informants ID. The new owner of the bar, Rochelle A. Jackson, had by then taken over the operation from licensees Joseph Husick, Jr. and Christina Ward. At Thursday’s transfer hearing. Jackson’s husband Ebon characterized the sale as a mistake.
Mr. Jackson said in the first couple of weeks they were in operation there were several fights, but things have calmed down lately. “We have learned from it,” he said, adding, “We are taking the necessary steps to solve the problem.” He said cameras were located both inside the bar and out in the parking lot to control crowds.
Mr. Jackson said of the bar’s past, “The history of Loveville Tavern is no reflection of what we are trying to do,” He said the current crowd, “Now it is a more mature crowd. It is more laid back.”
Board Chairman Moses Saldana, Jr. said of the checkered past: “It is something you are going to inherit, whether you like it or not.”
The board also expressed concern about the original application which apparently contained a signed petition with several signatures which didn’t match the printed names. Mr. Jackson said he had gone around collecting signatures and he didn’t check the ID’s of those signing. Board Vice Chairman Linda Palchinsky called the signatures a “forgery.” She said, “I don’t go for it.”
Mrs. Jackson said a subsequent petition was filed with the application that contained valid signatures. She said all of the people who signed it knew her.
Palchinsky voted against the transfer which passed 4-1. The board also approved allowing the “premises” to expand to include a fenced in back yard. Current patrons can drink on a deck but not the yard.
The approval was contingent on a number of other future requirements, including the fire marshal’s approval and taking care of some unpaid taxes. The operation will continue under the old license until the issues are resolved. The approval was for 90 days to give them time to work things out.
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