The liquor license of the Springdale Civic Center was suspended until Jan. 1 by a state board after an all-day hearing Wednesday.
The ruling reversed a decision made in June by Bud Roberts, director of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration Division, to revoke the business liquor license. Roberts' order cited the March 13 deaths of Alejandro Hernandez, 23, and Guillermo Sanchez, 22, both of Clarksville. They were passengers in a pickup driven by Julio Galan, then 19, also of Clarksville. Galan, who was injured when the vehicle hit a tree, had been drinking at the Civic Center before the accident, according to Roberts' order.
The 2,500-person capacity private venue will not be able to serve alcohol until Jan. 1, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board decided by a 3-2 vote. In addition, the business must stop serving alcohol by 1 a.m. for an additional year before going back to the board for a review. Normally, the center stopped serving alcohol at 2 a.m.
The board found that the civic center's violations included serving alcohol to people who were under 21, serving people past the point of intoxication, allowing patrons to leave the bar with open beers and failing to prevent fights. The hearing started at 10 a.m. and the decision was announced just before 8 p.m.
Board member Mickey Powell, who recommended the stipulations, said the case was nearly unprecedented.
The board heard from witnesses who described the business's owner, Edward Vega, as a leader in the Hispanic community, and from an Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement agent who described conditions during a concert night as the worst he had ever seen.
A full day of testimony included descriptions of a night of drinking by the two victims and Galan at the Civic Center and another Springdale bar, and problems that were found at both locations when police and Alcoholic Beverage Control agents searched them a month after the accident.
A group of six Springdale police officers, four Alcoholic Beverage Control agents and the Springdale city attorney spent hours testifying Wednesday about an April 10 operation at the civic center. Officers said they monitored the center's parking lot for several hours before closing time, observing beer cans, bottles and trash while arresting some people for public intoxication and underage drinking.
After 2 a.m., the officers said, they went inside the bar and observed people still drinking. One man approached officers, his face bloody, to report he had been punched.
Bar workers who testified for Vega, the owner, described their efforts to control patrons. They said the bar had no electronic system to check for fake IDs and there was no age limit for entry into concerts held a few times each month.
Last year, the venue had been placed on probation for a fight, and had two violations in 2012, according to testimony.
Vega said there were problems at the location, but argued they were not as extensive as police described. He said he would be able to work with the two agencies to correct the solutions.
Powell, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board member, agreed, but added the punishment needed to "hurt" Vega's financial interests.
"I can't believe that having come down here and seeing what we've seen, you can't go back and make changes," Powell said.
"I think they did what they had to do to allow him to stay in business and to protect the community," Vega's attorney, James Crouch, said after the meeting.
According to testimony given Wednesday, the civic center is located in a shopping plaza in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of the Northwest Arkansas city.
Mireya Reith, the executive director of the Arkansas United Community Coalition, a immigrant-focused nonprofit located in the same shopping center as the civic center, described Vega as a good neighbor. She said his venue offered a needed service where Hispanics hold concerts, weddings, birthdays and other group events.
"In Northwest Arkansas, there are very few venues where the Hispanic community can go and feel comfortable and safe," Reith told the board. "I don't think it's just unique to the Hispanic community to see abuses."
Metro on 08/18/2016