City May Revoke Spaghetti Club's Liquor License

The Spaghetti Club might find its licenses revoked if the Cambridge License Commission determines next week that bar employees escalated a fight among patrons that occurred on Aug. 30.

"They might have handled the fight properly. I just don't get that feeling from the [police] report," said Richard V. Scali, the commission's executive officer.

According to both the Cambridge Police Department report and an investigative report compiled by the commission, several witnesses accused bartender Andrew Haynes and a bouncer of holding down patrons while they were trying to defend themselves outside the bar.

In their statements, parties on both sides of the fray blamed Spaghetti Club employees, although exactly what started the fight is unclear.

Joel W. Garrett, a patron of the bar, accused customer Joseph W. Squires of making lewd gestures toward his girlfriend, then a waitress at the Spaghetti Club. Garrett wrote that he responded by "talking with my hands" and grabbing Squires' throat.

Garrett alleged that Haynes then asked him and his friend Joseph T. Mills to leave, after which they were attacked by five or six other individuals.

Garrett wrote in his statement that the Spaghetti Club was "negligent" in not preventing his injuries.

But Squires told a different version to the commission investigator.

Squires said he merely bumped a drink over and apologized to the waitress. He claimed that he and his friend, Dennis M. Toner, were forced outside where they were held by bar employees and beaten by assailants they could not identify.

Both Toner and Squires claim to have been over-served alcohol by the Spaghetti Club's bartender.

Scali said that the commission must decide at the Oct. 29 hearing "whether the Spaghetti Club handled the incident properly and handled it with public safety [in mind]."

According to Scali, the fight itself is not the key issue.

"It depends on how they [Spaghetti Club staff] handled the fight and what the reason for the fight was," Scali said. "Was the bartender involved with it? [Employees] can't accelerate or antagonize a fight."

If Squires and Toner's contention that club staff held them down while they were beaten by others is true, the club would definitely be at fault.

Scali claims that scuffles are not new to the bar.

In a letter to Cranston Inc., the parent company of The Spaghetti Club, Scali makes mention of previous license violations including "failing to remain food oriented," patron fights and underage drinking.

"They have a long history. They have issues with fights," he said.

But the manager on duty that night, Scott E. Griffin, said "we don't have any problems."

He declined to comment further.

In addition to allegations about the fight, club proprietors must answer the charge that they "have failed to complete [a] change of manager application."

If the three-member commission decides that club personnel acted improperly, they can "cancel, suspend, revoke or further condition" all of the licenses held by Cranston Inc., Scali said

In addition to allegations about the fight, club proprietors must answer the charge that they "have failed to complete [a] change of manager application."

If the three-member commission decides that club personnel acted improperly, they can "cancel, suspend, revoke or further condition" all of the licenses held by Cranston Inc., Scali said