AMHERST – Two alleged liquor license violations discovered by Amherst Police at a downtown restaurant will be the subject of a Select Board hearing next week.
Select Board Chairwoman Alisa Brewer said in an email that the violations will be addressed by the board at a special meeting at Town Hall at 6 p.m. Thursday. But the board has not yet been apprised of the specific offenses or seen a report from police.
Peter Hechenbleikner, the town’s interim town manager, said the allegations are a serious enough matter that the board couldn’t put off a hearing until June, which it would have done due to a busy schedule in advance of Town Meeting, which starts May 2.
“It’s obviously a cause for concern,” Hechenbleikner said of the alleged violations.
Hechenbleikner said details would be available prior to the board’s regularly scheduled meeting at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday.
“We will have the information put together next Tuesday afternoon in time for the Select Board meeting that evening,” Hechenbleikner said.
Police Chief Scott Livingstone said he wouldn’t identify the restaurant involved. But the violations alleged are based both on an investigation of a reported incident that police find credible, and observations by police officers, he said.
On March 27, police took a report from the mother of a 17-year-old girl from Sharon, visiting friends at the University of Massachusetts, who passed out on a PVTA bus the previous evening. The mother told police her daughter had been drinking a large amount of alcohol at a downtown restaurant.
At the time, police said the woman’s claims about underage serving would be investigated.
In January, the Select Board suspended the license of Panda East restaurant, 103 North Pleasant St., for seven days following allegations it served 17 minors last fall. But the board only forced the restaurant to not serve alcohol on Jan. 25 and Jan 26, holding the remaining five days in abeyance for two years.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com
