THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411190449
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BILL REED, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
A Circuit Court judge on Friday upheld a state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board ``death sentence'' handed out last April to an Atlantic Avenue nightspot for violating mandated food and beverage sales ratios.
The board revoked the liquor license of The Edge, one of a handful of taverns in the 2100 block of Atlantic Ave. that underwent intense scrutiny in the summer by police, fire and ABC officials as part of a crackdown on Oceanfront rowdyism.
The punishment was meted out a month after a lower-level ABC officer had suspended the tavern's license for 10 days and levied a $750 fine. The hearing officer ruled that owners Anne and Alex Asercion had failed, in the previous years, to meet the state requirement that 40 percent of the tavern's sales involve food.
Judge A. Bonwill Shockley confirmed the board's harsher decision after an appeals hearing Friday that featured a succession of city officials.
The Asercions' liquor license will not be lifted immediately, however. Shockley gave them and lawyer E. Moody Stallings until Dec. 4 to seek a higher court appeals hearing. The license remains in effect until then.
Stallings failed to convince Shockley that the ABC Board's ruling had been tainted by an earlier meeting March 29 with a host of Virginia Beach and state officials. The group included City Councilman Linwood O. Branch III, Police Chief Charles R. Wall, City Manager James K. Spore, ABC Board Chairman Catherine Giordano and board member Clarence W. Roberts.
Branch testified that he called the session to combat late-night lawlessness outside some Atlantic Avenue nightspots and to tighten enforcement of ABC regulations at these businesses. He denied Stallings' assertions that discussions dealt with specific bars. The Paradise Club, a 19th Street establishment, was the exception, he said. It was seeking reinstatement of its liquor license following a nighttime shooting several months earlier.
Up to this time, said Branch, ABC enforcement had been lax, especially at the Oceanfront. He explained that the appointment of a new slate of ABC Board members in January by Gov. George F. Allen prompted the March get-together between city officials, Giordano and Roberts. It was all part of a renewed effort to ``assist law enforcement officers enforce the law,'' he said.
John B. Griffin, an assistant commonwealth's attorney representing ABC interests, said Stallings had failed to prove the link between the meeting and the harsh punishment dealt to the Asercions. ``There was no vendetta here,'' he said.
Alex Asercion, a Filipino-American who has been in the resort bar business for 17 years, said he intends to continue his fight for vindication.
``We're still open,'' he said. ``I run a clean business. I feel in the end the truth is going to come out. It's going to be a long battle.''
Of the judge's Friday ruling, Asercion said: ``I feel Judge Shockley just dumped it (the case) to get rid of it so it would go on up to the next level.'' by CNB