June 28, 2024 |
Photo – Buck’s Sports Grill – Courtesy – buckssportsgrill.com
A Rawlins restaurant lost its liquor license after two minors were served alcohol by employees at the bar.
On Tuesday, May 28th, Rawlins Police Sergeant Christopher Craig received a call that workers at Bucks Sports Bar and Grill, located on Cedar Street, had served two minors alcohol. One, a 17-year-old child, allegedly drank so much that they needed to be taken to Memorial Hospital of Carbon County for treatment.
Rawlins Police Chief Mike Ward said following Sergeant Craig’s investigation, four Bucks Sports Bar employees, two adults and two minors, were charged with alcohol related offences.
The names of the two juveniles are being withheld, but both were charged with minor-in-possession of alcohol. The two adults charged in the incident, Thomas Gile and Cannen Marquez, were cited for contributing alcohol to a minor. All charges are misdemeanors.
In the police report, provided to Bigfoot99 by the Rawlins City Attorney’s office, Sergeant Craig writes that the mother of one of the minors reported the incident to the police after her 17-year-old child came home from Bucks Sports Bar and Grill so drunk that they were apparently foaming at the mouth. The child was taken to Memorial Hospital where they made a full recovery.
The incident caused the Rawlins city council to revoke the restaurant’s liquor license during their June 18th meeting.
The city council met again on Wednesday evening specifically to discuss the restaurant’s liquor license. Bucks owner Shawn Dahl, who was not present during the incident, told the council that losing his liquor license has hurt his business.
Dahl admitted that he made a mistake by not having a trustworthy supervisor on duty while he wasn’t present. The restaurant owner said he is working on a way to prevent a similar incident from occurring in the future.
Dahl said he fired the employees responsible for the incident and selected a longtime employee to act as a shift supervisor.
Following Dahl’s testimony, the city council went into executive session to discuss the matter. After the meeting was called back to order, Councilwoman Jacquelin Wells motioned to reinstate Bucks Sports Bar and Grill’s liquor license contingent upon every employee who serves alcohol undergoing Training for Intervention Procedures, or TIPS. The TIPS program is designed to provide servers with the skills to recognize intoxication and prevent drunk driving and underage drinking. Rawlins city ordinance requires that everyone who serves alcohol must be TIPS trained within four months of being hired.
Councilman Darril Garner accused Dahl of failing to ensure his employees were TIPS trained within the required timeframe. Councilman Garner asked for a more severe punishment.
Councilman Garner asked Dahl why his employees were not properly TIPS trained. The restaurant owner said high employee turnover caused him to lose track of who had and had not undergone the training.
Despite Garner’s objection, he and the entire city council voted to reinstate Bucks Sports Bar and Grill’s liquor license with the condition that all servers become TIPS trained. Until that time, no alcohol can be served at the restaurant.
TIPS training is performed by the Rawlins Police Department four times a year. Chief Ward said he is working to get Dahl’s employees the required training as soon as possible.
Dahl promised the council that he will comply with their ruling and that a similar incident will never happen again.
