On Thursday, citing almost one year of parking lot mayhem that culminated earlier last month with a near-fatal stabbing, the Calvert County liquor board suspended the alcoholic beverage sales license of Atomic Seafood of Lusby for 60 days. All but five days of the sanction was suspended by the board, which also levied a $1,000 fine.
The Calvert County Sheriff’s Office criminal investigations bureau is seeking the public’s assistance in helping locate the knife-wielding patron who wounded two people outside the restaurant/bar on July 2.
Deputy Herschel Wilder told the board that the knife wound inflicted by the perpetrator came close to piercing the victim’s vertebrae. Wilder said no arrests were made that night.
Liquor board chairman Robert Arscott stated the sheriff’s office provided the panel with a list of calls deputies have responded to involving fights and disruptions in the bar’s parking lot dating back to last August. Wilder confirmed that on at least one occasion backup from the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Office was requested.
“We always tried to have a cop at the location,” Chris Donaldson, Atomic Seafood owner, told the board, adding that hiring an off-duty law enforcement officer has always been a challenge. Donaldson explained he still had a security detail at work when a live DJ would be featured inside.
“It was a new venture for us,” Donaldson said. “We tried to make it safe for the people coming in.”
After the July 2 incident, Donaldson said he and his family decided, “This is not where we want the business to go. We completely changed everything. We totally changed the platform.”
Donaldson said his business now has games such as air hockey for patrons to enjoy and will stop serving alcohol at midnight.
“My goal was not to get them [Atomic Seafood] shut down,” Wilder explained regarding his report to the liquor board. “I’m not trying to get their license revoked.”
Arscott wanted to know why the restaurant owners didn’t discard the plans for live DJs at the first sign of trouble.
“It was bad judgment on my part,” Donaldson conceded.
“This is a family-run business,” said Nicholas Ferrante, Atomic Seafood’s attorney. “They have 20 employees, adults with families. A serious financial penalty and a long closure would be a death knell.”
Initially, Arscott recommended a full 45-day liquor license suspension.
“You can still stay open and serve meals,” Arscott told Donaldson. “You can’t serve alcohol. We’re not shutting you down.”
“If I don’t have a liquor license for 45 days I’ll go out of business,” Donaldson said.
Liquor board attorney David Weigel suggested the board impose a larger suspension but reduce it to five days, holding the other 55 days in abeyance, provided no violations occur.
Arscott and board member John H. “Jack” Smack agreed that arrangement should be sufficient.
“If you haven’t improved in 60 days you are going out of business anyway,” Arscott told Donaldson.
Smack told the bar owner the punitive measures are necessary “to educate the public.” Additionally, Smack asked the bar’s owners to provide the liquor board with documentation of their revised business plan.
The five-day suspension of Atomic Seafood’s liquor license was to take effect immediately.
