Published: August 27, 2008 01:48 am            

NORTH TONAWANDA: SLA restores beer permits for all NT concerts

Multiple sources told the Tonawanda News on Tuesday that the liquor permits for the city’s two outdoor concert series have been restored.

What happens next is still up in the air, but Mayor Larry Soos’ office says every effort is being made to restore what was scheduled to be Saturday’s second-to-last concert of the season, Rik Emmett, and the summer’s final show by Loverboy.

North Tonawanda Mayor’s Assistant Jeffrey Mis said after conversations he’s had with the promoter that nothing is “set in stone” — but that every effort is being made to ensure the shows can go on.

Such a performance would require scores of sound technicians, tent suppliers, vendors and even certain band members to quickly adjust their schedules on a few days’ notice for previously canceled concerts in North Tonawanda.

“In speaking with Vincent Lesh, the promoter, he is attempting to put together a possible all-day show on Saturday, contingent upon his ability to get everybody back together,” Mis said. “More information should be available (Wednesday).”

Emmett, has, according to some, expressed interest in the idea of the all-day show.

A spokesman from the state Liquor Authority failed to return multiple calls for comment Tuesday to explain or verify the surprising reversal of its decision.

Permits for the sale of alcohol in Gateway Harbor Park were revoked first for the Saturday night concerts in late July after event staff were caught selling beer to minors in an undercover police sting. The Wednesday and Friday night concerts, caught in a similar sting run earlier in the summer, saw permits revoked two weeks after the Saturday concerts — and only after a story by the Tonawanda News that exposed the fact that the arrests had happened there too, but no action had been taken by the SLA.

State Sen. George Maziarz, R-Newfane, who along with Assemblyman Robin Schimminger, sought clarification from the SLA last week on why the permits were hastily revoked, said he was made aware of the decision via a message left at his office Monday. Maziarz said he has had no further contact with SLA Chairman Daniel Boyle, whom a receptionist at the SLA said is on vacation.

Maziarz also said that, in the message left for him, Boyle made clear that the process for underage drinking violations would move forward against both permit holders, but the SLA, in failing to return calls, didn’t clarify what that process actually entails.

The authority also offered to reinstate off-site permits for the Knights of Columbus, though beer sales at the Wednesday and Friday night concerts were taken over by the American Legion.

“They didn’t apologize, they just asked if I’d be interested in getting them back,” said Fred Priano, president of the Knights of Columbus Twin City Council.

North Tonawanda Police Chief Randy Szukala said his agency hasn’t been notified of plans to reinstate the permits, though that doesn’t surprise him, based on his previous dealings with the SLA.

“The trouble is, we’re dealing with the state, and the years we’ve gotten notification for any kind of event, it was three weeks after (the fact),” Szukala said.

The Saturday event’s primary sponsor, Labatt Blue Light, pulled out of the concerts after the underage drinking violations generated negative publicity. Concert organizers, though, have previously said the brewery’s sponsor money was paid up-front and Labatt’s decision not to lend its name would have no impact on financing the remainder of this season’s concerts.

Asked whether public, legislative and media scrutiny heaped on the permit revocations influenced the SLA’s reversal, both Maziarz and Schimminger, D-Kenmore, agreed it was.

“I don’t think there’s any question it did,” Maziarz said, adding that he thinks the permit holders are due an apology.

Schimminger’s assessment was more blunt: “Duh.”

He went on to say that, “if the SLA has changed its mind, obviously the media attention and legislative input played a significant role, but the public still needs to know why this happened.”

Contact reporter Neale Gulley at 693-1000, ext. 114 and Managing Editor Eric DuVall at ext. 112.

        

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