Round Lake Police Tobacco Compliance Check

The Round Lake Police Department, completed a tobacco compliance check operation last monday, the Round Lake Police Department conducted a tobacco compliance check operation at fourteen establishments within theVillage of Round Lake.

Two of the fourteen establishments sold tobacco to an underage person: Four Coynes Tavern, 302 W. Nippersink Road, and the Marathon Gas Station, 1175 W. Railroad Ave. These businesses have had prior violations during alcohol countermeasure enforcement operations. The underage person presented the merchant with their valid Illinois identification card which clearly states that they are under the age of eighteen. Individuals who sold tobacco to the minor were charged with Sale of Tobacco to a Minor and must appear in Lake County Branch Court on December 21, 2007.

This operation was conducted pursuant to a grant from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission. Of course you all recall the give and take of the last few times we have had violations of our liquor sales to minors, and I am sure you can recall the names. The sad thing is that even though the grant comes to us via the Illinois Liquor Control Commission it does not fall under the liquor commission's guidance.

The public is reminded that an arrest is not evidence of guilt and that the defendant in this criminal case is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

Liquor Issues-- Basset training

In July of 2007, the Village of Round Lake approved an ordinance amending the liquor license provisions of the village code and providing for a BASSET (Beverage Alcohol Sellers and Servers Education and Training) program. The purpose of the BASSET program is to educate sellers and servers on the short and long-term effects of alcohol and drugs on individuals, families, friends, communities, businesses and the economy. The objectives of the BASSET program are:

• To train sellers and servers of alcohol on the proper techniques of responsible sales and service;
• To stop all sales of alcohol to underage patrons;
• To prevent DUIs and alcohol related fatalities;
• To promote responsible business practices and community safety;
• To educate industry professionals on alcohol related legislation;
• To promote the benefits of practicing responsible sales and service.

Three police department members have become certified and state licensed BASSET instructors. The police department is prepared to properly train all persons affected by the implementation of the BASSET program (sellers, servers, managers and owners). The village code was also amended to include a parental responsibility section prohibiting parent or guardian authorized underage drinking parties and giving the police department another tool to prosecute irresponsible parents. For more information on BASSET:

COMMENTARY-- Four Coynes Decision from the Illinois Liquor Commision

What happens if you run a gambling den for years, serve underage minors in your bar, and have illegal slot machines in your bar and get caught!

Here's how you handle it, appeal appeal appeal, the Illinois Liquor Commission (ILC) will let you off the shut-down hook and keep you open. According to other Mayors I talked to in the last few days, it's the way they do it! They all told me there horror stories. So now we are in the club!

Of course the owner has to pay a fine, because of course the municipality does it right, the owner admits to everything at the liquor hearing. Even then you get to remain open! Here is the decision in PDF format for you to enjoy.

Excellent!

The ILC did not overturn my decision they just called it overly harsh! The penalty was changed to a $10,000 fine, which is one of the largest levied in a long time by the ILC.

Other then a few old timers, the vast majority of residents here were supportive of my aggressive stance on this issue. So despite the fact that this train wreck of a bar is open, we are still going to continue aggressive action with our liquor licenses throughout the village.

We are not going to tolerate underage drinking of any kind, nor are we going to tolerate illegal gambling either in our fine bars and restaurants.

If you want to read the back story to this story go here.

COMMENTARY-- Underage Drinking

Last Friday, the Round Lake Police Department completed another Alcohol Countermeasure Enforcement operation in conjunction with the Illinois State Police. This operation was organized as part of the Lake County Chiefs Association Underage Drinking Committee, which Chief Metaxa is a member.

The results of last nights operation were slightly better than last time. We had four of twelve establishments sell liquor to the minor. That is better than the six of eleven a few months ago. The four establishments that sold liquor to the minor were the Tool Shed, Round Lake Liquors, El Ranchero restaurant, and Community Food and Liquors.

This is the third time that the Tool Shed has been cited for selling liquor to a minor as a result of these types of operations. I have scheduled a liquor control commission hearing for Monday, March 19, 2007 at 6:30 pm at the village hall. In the meantime, the liquor license for the Tool Shed has been suspended until the hearing. The Tool Shed continues to sell alcohol to minors and is a danger to public safety.

Channel 7 (ABC) rode along with the officers who conducted the ACE operation last Friday in Round Lake and interviewed Mundelien's Chief Raymond Rose (the Committee spokesperson) this morning. Here is a link to a story done by ABC.

The Chief's Underage Drinking Committee has focused their efforts in four areas: enforcement, education, legislation and membership. They meet monthly to discuss specific topics within these areas to ultimately achieve our goal of reducing the underage drinking in Lake County.

They will continue to conduct these types of operations in the future, but will also be focusing on education. Chief Metaxa is organizing a pre-prom presentation at the high school with the fire department and the Coroner's office.

I am going to bring in all of the liquor licensees and providing them with education and a discussion about our expectations at some point quickly.

The disappointment I get from this is enormous. Since Four Coynes is appealing my revocation of its liquor license with the Illinois Liquor Commission and is free to be open until such time as the board ratifies my decision. I have been sending officers into every bar in Round Lake every night, so its no surprise there were no violations in any of those 5 bars. I am not picking on any one bar, just being hyper-vigilant to all.

Yet in the other 7 places that sell that we checked, 4 failed. My summit with the various license holders hopefully will help them wise up, I suspect the individual liquor hearing will assist with there focus as well!

Liquor Update

The Four Coynes has appealed my decision to the Illinois Liquor Commission, so while they wait the 30 days for appeal, they get to be open for business. How nice!

COMMENTARY-- Four Coynes Liquor Hearing

What follows below is a copy of the decision that I took after the Liquor hearing on the Four Coynes matter last week. Mr Coynes stipulated (ie agreed with them) to the charges at the hearing, and basically asked me be lenient because of numerous family issues. I wrestled briefly with some form of mitigation but ultimately I did not feel that Mr. Coynes had been open and candid with me. Mr. Coynes was notified by fax and in writing as to my decision on Monday.

The level of professionalism by agencies involved in this, was and is impressive, Lake County MEG, all the Round Lake Area Police Departments, McHenry Police, the Lake County States Attorney, and the Round Lake Police Department were all involved and had buy in. The undercover work, two simultaneous raids, booking officers, evidence technicians, and of course the officers involved in raid exhibited a high level of sophistication and professionalism that we can all be proud of.

Here's the commentary portion of this post: We are serious about enforcing the liquor ordinances in Round Lake, if you have a license, obey the law! I have heard that one non gambling machine has been removed from a local bar already so the climate is improving. I take my job as Liquor commissioner seriously, not every decision is going to be popular, but we do need decisions to be made, and sometimes they are hard and affect peoples lives.

What follows below is the actual text of the order I wrote and had made into a legal document and then signed earlier this week.

This matter having come on to be heard upon a Citation and Notice of Hearing directing Licensee, FOUR COYNES, INC., to appear before the Local Liquor Control Commission of the Village of Round Lake, Lake County, Illinois, on an allegation of conducting illegal gambling activities upon the licensed premises at 302 Nippersink Road, Round Lake, Illinois on January 24, 2007 and upon hearing the Liquor Commissioner finding by offer of proof by the prosecution and stipulation of the Licensee that the Licensee by and through its officer and agent, SCOTT E. COYNE, did conduct illegal gambling activities as alleged and pursuant to that offer of proof and stipulation, the Liquor Commissioner further finds:

• That Licensee intentionally and knowingly disregarded the liquor ordinances in the Village of Round Lake and the State of Illinois for one and a half years with regard to the active promotion and conduct of poker games and four to five years in the matter of the slot machines, culminating in the gambling activities of the same nature on January 24, 2007.
  

That as to matters presented in mitigation, the Liquor Commissioner finds that such contentions are rendered not fully credible and off-set by the following:

• Roughly six weeks ago there was an underage drinking violation at the licensed premises, which Licensee at that liquor hearing three weeks ago, promised the Liquor Commissioner would never be repeated again, but at the time of the arrest, on January 24, 2007, there was a minor female drinking and gambling at the licensed establishment.
  
• The police report on January 3, 2007 has Licensee telling the undercover officers that if “someone walked in” no money was to be visible on the table and that the cover story was the game was for a $100 prize to be given away to the weekly poker winner and that there was no actual gambling taking place”. Licensee also added that he “had 2 run in’s with police in the last few days and the state police had performed a alcohol compliance check and that Licensee received a $150 fine and what amounted to a written warning for serving the decoy”.
  
• After the liquor hearing on January 3 2007 in front of this very same Commission for the first offense, Licensee learned nothing from the warning reprimand issued by the Liquor Commissioner other than to attempt hiding illegal activities more deeply.
  
• The explanation offered for $16,000 of the approximately $34,000 cash that was hidden as “holding it” from Licensee’s parents divorce is found to be ludicrous and does not make sense.
  
• Licensee was not sober when arrested.
  
• The drug paraphernalia and unregistered guns found in the raid on Licensee’s house, does not jibe with Licensee’s being the earnest family man portrayed at the hearing on February 7, 2007.
  

The Liquor Commissioner further finds that the foregoing together with the following specific factors compel the revocation of the subject Liquor License in this case:

• The long term nature of the violations (over four to five years for the slot machines and over one year for the card gambling); and
  
• The fact that 22 days after being warned quite severely by this Liquor Commissioner for minors drinking in the bar, Licensee had a minor female in the bar served alcohol and allowed to gamble.

IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED THAT SUCH LIQUOR LICENSE BE AND IS HEREBY REVOKED EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY.
William Gentes, Local Liquor Control Commissioner Village of Round Lake, Lake County, Illinois

Four Coynes Tavern

Many people have been asking what happened with the liquor commission hearing that was scheduled for monday evening. I granted a continuance to the owner for the inevitable liquor hearing which was a result of the raid of the Four Coynes Tavern last Wednesday. (These pictures are of the slot machines that were confiscated during the raid.) The new hearing is for Feburary 7th at 6pm.

COMMENTARY-- Gambling, Liquor Licences and Change

As many of you recall we had a underage drinking operation about a month ago, which netted us a variety of first time liquor license offenders. I had quite a bit of feedback from residents wanting me to be more draconian in my punishment to first time violators. One of the reasons I leaned towards lienency with the first time offenders was the fact that one of the first timers was the Four Coynes Tavern and we wanted them open rather then shut.

If you read yesterday's post you will know that we had been running a long-term undercover operation in the Four Coynes Tavern, that I and the police did not want to jeopardize. We gave serious consideration to not allowing the underage drinking operation to take place, however we were not going to stop the village's proactive policing business for one undercover operation.

I think that this particular situation illustrates many of the problems in the village that I have been trying to do away with. I had been asking for enforcement on our local liquor license holders for the entirety of my first term. The rumblings about slot machines and underage and after hours service were ones I heard, and others heard, quite a bit about. Despite my repeated questioning of our then existing police command structure I was told that we aggressively patrolled our bars for these exact violations, yet in fours years we had not one violation.

How come in the last 18-20 months we have uncovered and prosecuted violations ranging from illegal gambling to sex abusers with pit-stops at gang enforcement, drug busts and much much more? I find it hard to believe as some defenders of the old policing strategies would say that it just started, because of my changes in the policing structure.

Well to answer that lets put ourselves inside the mind of our gambling den owner. He hears that the old policing command structure is being replaced with a new command structure, so his first thought is hummmm we have a new Police Chief, lets start running poker games and have some slot machines brought in! Because clearly a new Chief is only going to do "nothing", because of course what other way is there for the new Police structure to go? Do we believe this is credible?

Clearly not! This problem with our liquor licenses, and old time ways of doing things has been rooted deeply in this village, its roots have gone deep, and over the last 5 years I have been yanking and picking at the root ball.

Under the new policing structure, we have a proactive policing strategy rather then a reactive strategy. Accountability and results are demanded, encouraged and rewarded on the staff level and we can already see the results.

In nearly six years of being Mayor I have learned one thing, that rooting out the underlying issues that made the old Round Lake, inefficient, takes time and persistence. It also is probably the most important thing I can and will do to make this a better place as your Mayor. If you want to review the promise I made to the village and have kept, read this post from almost 2 years ago.

Lets face facts, Round Lake was a small town, and is now a fast growing community with over 80% of the residents having moved here since 1990. The old model of village government was there to serve some very narrow self interests, those interests now are discovering that openness, transparency and accountability are very uncomfortable things for the old school business model. While 95% of the nonsense that was going on was and is not illegal, it was not ethically correct or appropriate in my opinion. Nepotism, cronyism and the "Mayberryish" management style of some of my former department heads and staff are gone for good, and will never return.

Newcomers have no idea what went on here before, and quite frankly probably don't care. What they do want is accountable, capable government that spends it's tax dollars wisely and with a purpose! Slowly but surely we are moving in that direction.

Gambling Bust in the Village

Last night the Round Lake Police Department acting on a tip from a resident from six months ago, concluded a joint investigation with the Lake County Metropolitan Enforcement Group (LMEG) and arrested 24 people at the Four Coynes Tavern, including the owner Scott Coyne. The long term undercover operation uncovered the following:

• Weekly Wednesday night Texas Hold’em Tournaments.
• A Weekly NFL confidence pool.
• The sale of Football game strip cards.
• Super Bowl squares being sold ($75 per square, 100 squares).
• Two slot machines within the establishment are being used for gambling with payoffs.
  

There has been extensive documentation of all the above . This appears to have been an ongoing location of alleged gambling for many years. Newspaper coverage here.

COMMENTARY-- Liquour Licences

Many of you have heard that the Round Lake Police Department participated in an Alcohol Countermeasure Enforcement (ACE) operation on December 28, 2006. The ACE operation was organized by the Lake County Chiefs of Police – Underage Drinking Committee, of which Chief Cliff Metaxa is a member. The ACE operation was a county-wide one in eight jurisdictions.

NOTE: I have posted twice before about underage drinking, here and here. I also talked about this and the hearings below in Mayors comments last night at the village board meeting.

Early last year we held a compliance check at 5 establishments and 4 flunked by selling to the minor. I held liquor hearings for all 4 of the violators three days later, one individual did not show up, so I directed the Police Chief to chain his coolers shut until the owner could grace me with his presence and then we could find a mutually agreeable time to have a hearing. It took 7 days if I am not mistaken!

When Chief Metaxa approached me about doing this again in the middle of December I was receptive with two caveat's, the first was that we specifically go after the violators and second to make sure we got some that we missed the first time around.

As an aside I am also the Liquor Commissioner as well, which is quite the interesting position. I can appoint someone to be it for me, but I have elected to keep it as me for now, I think at some point in the future I will appoint some fool hardy soul to be the commissioner for the village.

The ACE program was designed with a media component and we had Jason King of the Daily Herald ride with the Chief and observe but not participate. Here is his article that ran the next day.

Round Lake businesses ticketed in liquor sting
By Jason King Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, December 29, 2006

Six Round Lake businesses were cited Thursday for serving or selling alcohol to minors. Round Lake police conducted a sweep Thursday evening of 13 of the 16 businesses which have liquor licenses as part an alcohol countermeasure operation.

Eight police departments across Lake County participated in the operation, including Round Lake Park, Waukegan and North Chicago. Round Lake Police Chief Cliff Metaxa said the sweep was conducted with the help of the Illinois State Police.

Bars and liquor merchants who violate the law, Metaxa said, could face significant sanctions, particularly places that have been in violation before. “If we have some repeat offenders we might have some liquor licenses revoked,” Metaxa said at the start of the operation.

Businesses cited on Thursday included :

• The Tool Shed, 417 W. Railroad Ave.
• Miz Liquors, 1841 S. Cedar Lake Road.
• BP Amoco, 320 W. Nippersink Road.
• Four Coynes Inn, 302 W. Nippersink Road.
• Janetta’s, 259 N. Cedar Lake Road.
• Copa’s, 304 N. Cedar Lake Road.

The operation consisted of a 19-year-old male, specially trained by the Illinois State Police, who attempted to purchase either package liquor at stores or to get served at a bar. Two police officers were in each establishment at the time the minor attempted to make the purchase to observe the transaction. The minor was instructed to attempt to make the purchase without any sort of falsified identification or scheme. If asked for ID, he presented his true identification. If the minor was not served, all three exited the building without further action.

If he was served, however, a Round Lake detective walked into the store and wrote a citation on the spot. The operation’s first store, The Tool Shed, was the first offender, and no stranger to Round Lake police. The minor walked in, purchased alcohol and walked back to the car an undercover team of officers was driving. “That was too easy,” Metaxa said. “They didn’t pass last time. They might lose their license.”

Some stores carded the minor and sold him alcohol anyway; others didn’t card him at all and sold to him. For the offending businesses, Mayor Bill Gentes will render the ultimate decision as the village’s liquor commissioner.

At least two of the businesses which were cited in the past, passed this round, including one which had its license suspended and its coolers chained shut by the village over a long holiday weekend last year. “They learned their lesson,” Metaxa said.

The overall number of liquor establishments in the operation that sold alcohol to a minor was 32 of 85 or .37 percent in Lake County. In Round Lake, the following liquor establishments sold or served alcohol to the minor: Four Coynes Bar, Janetta’s Place Bar, Copa’s Bar, MIZ Liquors, BP Amoco (prior violator) and The Tool Shed (prior violator).

Yesterday morning since I was off from work I decided to have a Liquor hearing for each one of the violators every 20 minutes. Aside from some issues with tardiness, all six hearings went well. The first four listed above were given severe warnings, and told in no uncertain terms that the next time was the last time.

Oddly I was hearing from two sides, I had some people advocating zero tolerance and to take the licenses away from them. On the other hand I had a few feelers from people in the community to go easy on them as well!

My thinking was that since I had set a precedent early last year with severe warnings of the first time offenders that I could not very well treat this set differently. In researching what other municipalities do I discovered they were all over the place as far as penalties. So no guidance there!

Ultimately I decided that what I intended to do was fair. Which were warnings to the first time offenders and for the second time offenders a 10 day suspension of license. In addition I told the, two strikes group, that any trip in front of me for a violation in the future was automatic revocation of license. I also reserved the right to take the license away at any time from the first group if the second offense was over board.

Report from the Lake County After School Coalition

I received the following letter today from Chief Raymond Rose of the Mundelein Police Department and State Representative Kathy Ryg who are Co-Presidents Lake County After School Coalition. If you recall I talked about Liz Nelson a Madrona Resident a few posts ago and her involvement with this organization. The village sent Police Administrative Director Mike Recupito to attend the program by the way.

Thank you to those of you who attended or supported the Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking Prevention on April 11. We received significant feedback from members of the community; including children, parents, school officials and community leaders.

The next step is crucial:
We need your help to prioritize these needs and develop an action plan. Our Action Planning on Underage Drinking Prevention meeting will take place on Tuesday, April 25th, from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. at Carmel Catholic High School (One Carmel Pkwy, Mundelein). Refreshments will be served at 6:00 p.m.

Please join us to help decide what the root problems are and the solutions we can implement to prevent underage drinking. It is not enough for one or even a few members of a community to take a stand against underage drinking, we need everyone. We sincerely hope that you will attend this Action Planning meeting and encourage others to as well. Please feel free to forward the attached brochure to other interested parties. For more information visit www.lakecountyafterschoolcoalition.org or contact Theresa Loerch at (847) 680-5909 or e-mail kathy@kathyryg.org.

Please do attend if you can, I have the complete flyer as a PDF available here if you want more details on the program.

Town Hall Meeting on Underage Drinking

On April 11th there is going to be a Town Hall meeting sponsored by the Lake County After School Coalition. One of our residents Madrona Resident Elizabeth Nelson will be one of the moderators for the event which will address the very serious issue of underage drinking.

The program is for parents, grandparents, teachers, officials, youth and community members to voice concerns about and move towards solutions for preventing underage drinking. Alcohol is the leading cause of adolescent death; more than all other illegal drugs combined.

The event is to be held on April 11th 6:30 pm 8:30 pm (Refreshments served at 6:00 p.m.)
Carmel High School One Carmel Pkwy, Mundelein (East of intersection of Rt. 176 and Hawley St.)

Ms. Nelson works for the In Touch Prevention Services which is an alcohol, tobacco and other drug (ATOD) prevention program offered through a partnership of the Lake County Health Department and Community Health Center and the College of Lake County. The program is funded in part by the Illinois Department of Human Services.Their mission is to reinforce individuals, families and communities to lead healthy lives. Staff provides training, consultation and resources on topics such as alcohol, tobacco, drug prevention, life skills, parent effectiveness, youth development, community mobilizationn and program development.