Grille Faces License Suspension

Following up on its Feb. 27 hearing reporting that the popular JFK Street bar the Crimson Sports Grille served alcohol to minors, the Massachusetts Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission (ABCC) released its decision yesterday to suspend the bar's liquor license for 18 days-three days for each count of serving minors.

The commission sided with its investigators' recommendation and refused to accept the payment of a fine in lieu of the suspension, citing the Grille's "excessive history of violations."

Over the past decade, the commission has accepted five fines from the bar totaling about $12,000, each exempting the Grille from a license suspension for serving minors.

The bar's license will be suspended over commencement, from May 22 to June 8. During the February hearing, the Grille's attorney, James J. Rafferty, initially requested that if the commission voted to suspend the license, it impose the suspension after June 15, but he withdrew that request shortly afterward.

A month ago, Cambridge License Commission Executive Director Richard V. Scali said the commission intended to schedule a hearing on the bar's entire record after the ABCC released its decision.

However, Scali said yesterday that he no longer plans to schedule a hearing because he believes McCarthy plans to sell the establishment.

Scali said he had recently received inquiries regarding the status of the Grille's license from potential buyers.

"I've been led to believe from these inquiries that [a sale] could happen," Scali said. "There have been two or three in a short period of time, which means something's happening. They're at a very delicate stage in the negotiations."

Rafferty said that any claims a sale is in the works were "absolutely untrue," but declined further comment.

But Scali insisted that uncertainty about the Grille's liquor license probably means a sale is imminent, although no application for a transfer of the license has been filed.

"[McCarthy] realizes he will have a huge problem because we will continue to investigate him," he said. "I'm encouraged to believe that something will happen because of the status of the license."

The Grille's landlord could not be reached for comment.

The sting that led to the suspension found five underage Harvard students in the bar. Two of those students, both first-years, say ABCC investigators told them Harvard would not be notified of the sting.

But according to Peggy A. McNamara, spokesperson for the Harvard University Police Department, an ABCC investigator called HUPD shortly before the February hearing to confirm that the students who had produced Harvard identification actually attended the University. HUPD then forwarded the information to the College, and the four first-years were summoned to the Freshman Dean's Office (FDO) and received an official admonishment from the Administrative Board.