O'Brien: No Liquor Served After Hours at Lavender
Board of Selectmen chair apologizes for the Asian restaurant receiving a warning for hosting patrons after closing time.
Sudbury Board of Selectmen Chair Larry O'Brien has denied allegations that he and others were served liquor at Lavender Asian Cuisine & Bar after hours after Town Meeting concluded the night of May 8.
O'Brien admits he and about nine others entered the Asian restaurant that night and lost track of the time, staying past closing time.
"The important thing is that this was not a liquor violation," O'Brien said. "A warning was issued because the restaurant was supposed to be vacated."
O'Brien said at about 1:30 a.m., a Sudbury police officer did respond to the restaurant and the crowd exited shortly after. Despite allegations, O'Brien also said he was the lone selectman there that late and that Town Manager Maureen Valente had left hours before.
"Maureen and John were not there at 1:30," O'Brien said. "They left many hours before and stayed for about 35 to 40 minutes. We lost track of time ... nothing more, nothing less."
Selectman Bob Haarde said after Town Meeting concluded he went home, but received a voice message from O'Brien about the incident the following Sunday.
"Maureen advised him to tell me he was there, but he didn’t say the time he was there," Haarde said.
Haarde was upset the situation ever occurred.
"We were on the stage at Lincoln-Sudbury (after Town Meeting) at 10:41 p.m. and Lavender closes at 10," he said. "I don't know how people could have been in there."
According to Lavender's website, the restaurant's hours are:
- Sunday - Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. - 10 p.m.
- Thursday - Saturday, 11 a.m. - 1 a.m. (kitchen closes at 12:45 a.m.)
Valente said despite what the hours of operation states on Lavender's door and its website, that does not mirror what is stated on the Board of Selectmen regulation, which was passed in 1982.
"Patrons are not allowed on the premises beyond 15 minutes after closing time," she said, reading from the regulation. "The closing hour is the hour after which alcoholic beverages cannot be served as the beverage license states."
The Sudbury Board of Selectmen is the sole authority for issuing and enforcing liquor licenses in Sudbury.
The liquor license is from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., Mondays to Thursdays, she added.
O'Brien said he regrets the mistake and the consequences Lavender may face.
"I feel bad this might look poorly on them," he said. "It was a group of 9 or 10 that just lost track of time. When management cleaned up, we should have left and been more attentive (of the time). We apologize to management per our error."
Concord Rd
10:47 am on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Sudburytoo- It sounds like you really dislike Sudbury. Either move, or start trying to make a difference instead of complaining online.
Robert Fucci
11:44 am on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
FYI everyone ... I'm off to Noyes in a bit. Keep commenting but know comments will not be published until the rally is over.
Karla Vallance
2:09 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Also, please note that our Terms of Use (sudbury.patch.com/terms) require the use of your real name. We reserve the right to start deleting comments by, and then blocking, users who don't abide by those terms. To change your user name: 1) If you are not signed in, click Sign In at the top right and enter your login credentials 2) Hover over your name in the top right and click Profile 3) Click Edit Profile on the left and make changes as needed 4) Click Save to finish
Sid Bourne
9:33 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Police Chief Glavin showed some courage here. Interesting how the chief is the one filing the complaint, rather than a regular officer. Think they were afraid for their jobs??
SudburyOldie
6:05 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Everyone is turning a mole hill into a mountain. I bet that each and every one who has written a comment (including yours truly) has been in a similiar situation before....staying at a restaurant way past closing. My friends and I have lost track of time on a few occassions. Sometimes management is nice enough to let us keep chatting away and sometimes not. So, I don't see what all the hooplah's about. The world has more pressing issues at hand.
Edward Stark
6:44 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Oldie I don't know about you but I certainly am not in charge of enforcing the liquor licenses in town but Larry is. There is much more to this than a mole hill. Why was our town manager hooping it up with two of her Selectman arriving at a bar at 11:00PM an hour after it was scheduled to close? What was Larry doing there until 1:45? Why is Vallente making excuses? If there was no violation there would be no warning/police report on file, yet there is. Hats off to the Sudbury PD on this one!
Kirsten Vandijk
6:51 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
As much as I would like to agree with SudburyOldie, my ethical and moral obligation to my own comfort level says that there needs to be a State Level investigation as to the extent of any and all infractions by all parties involved and subsequent actions should and most likely will be taken to ensure this NEVER happens again. The Chief of Police is setting an important leadership role and his actions are exemplary. I can remember a "Sudbury Day" celebration not too long ago when the Town Manager told volunteers at the Noyes school to ignore the fire alarms that were blazing due to smoke in the basement. I was given much criticism for insisting on evacuating the building of the crowds and forcing them into the rain. A fire alarm in a town owned building being ignored brought the newly installed Fire Chief to find issue indeed. Rules, the LAW, -- no individual is exempt if we want a community that we can be proud of. No exceptions. Period.
Edward Stark
9:20 pm on Wednesday, May 23, 2012
I wonder if Larry remembers making these quotes:
http://www.wickedlocal.com/sudbury/news/x1772951555/Selectmen-meeting-off-camera-but-on-task?zc_p=0#axzz1vcbzZIHz
This is exactly why his lapse of judgement on May 8th needs to be scrutinized.
JJoseph
7:55 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012
I would suggest we just let the due process run its course. Since Mr. O'Brien claims there was nothing wrong going on, we should believe him. I am sure Mr. O'Brien and the other selectman present as well as the town manager, retaurant owner and six attendees will all cooperate fully with the state ethics investigators and the ABC enforcement team.
The part I still don't understand is how did they even get into a closed restaurant almost an hour after closing time??
Edward Stark
8:09 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012
Hahaha...good one JJoseph. Here are the 3 questions I have:
1. What was our town manager doing hanging out at a bar with 2 or our 3 selectman (quorum) on a Tuesday night at 11:00, one hour after the establishment closed?
2. Seeing that Larry O'Brien distributes and manages liquor licenses and he failed to himself follow the rules he has been elected to enforce, should he be required to recuse himself from future liquor license hearings especially Lavender's?
3. What was this establishment doing opening their doors at 11:00PM to this crowd? They typically close at 10:00 yet O'Brien, Drobinski and Vallente could not have possibly arrived before 11:00PM. Isn't a special permit required to stay open to a group past normal operation hours? I believe such is required to go before the Board of Selectman.
This is just overall bad behavior. I figured we could expect more in Sudbury. Stay tuned from what I hear this one is far from over.
JJoseph
8:40 am on Thursday, May 24, 2012
My question to the board is:
Why did Mr. O'Brien and Mr. Drobinski vote against Mr. Haarde taking his rotation as Chairman of the Board of Selectmen? It seems the relationship between Mr. O'Brien, Mr. Drobinski and the Town Manager is very tight. Mr. Haarde (the only one not at Lavenders) seems to be constantly voted down 2 to 1 on everything.
Does not appear to be a very democratic process.
Thrice Rusty
7:52 am on Sunday, May 27, 2012
If you read this document from the Board of Selectman page on our "award winning" town website you will see that Maureen Vallente's comments above do not match up with the actual statute from 1982. 1:00AM only pertains to Friday and Saturday's (not Tuesday's):
http://sudbury.ma.us/departments/BoardOfSelectmen/doc7651/AlcoholRules%26RegsPursuanttoG.L.Ch.138.pdf