Kam's not permitted to sell alcohol for four days

Megan Marz
The Daily Illini

"Home of the Drinking Illini" will not be the accurate slogan for Kam's from Sept. 21 to 24.

Because of two Champaign municipal code violations in March 2001, Kam's, 618 E. Daniel St., Champaign, will not be permitted to sell alcohol for four days.

Violations occurred when Kam's allowed an employee younger than 21 to possess and consume alcohol on its premises on March 4 and 5, and again on March 22, said Paul Berg, assistant city manager and deputy liquor commissioner.

Berg said the length of time between the March violations and the Aug. 30 hearing held to determine penalties was a result of the conflicting schedules of those involved in the hearings.

Robert Frederick, the attorney representing Kam's in the hearing, said he doesn't think the suspension is a fair penalty for the violation because the normal penalty for a bar's first minor-in-possession charge is a $500 fine, and the penalty for the second charge is usually $1,000.

"I thought it was greatly enhanced," Frederick said of the penalty.

Berg said those fines only apply to violations discovered on the police department's covert bar checks. He said the four-day liquor license suspension was an appropriate penalty because of some "extenuating circumstances."

On March 4 and 5, a Kam's off-duty employee who was drinking there was taken to the hospital with a blood alcohol level of .39, Berg said. That is nearly five times Illinois' legal level of intoxication. The March 22 violation involved an underage on-duty employee drinking, he said.

The suspension was decided by Champaign Mayor and Liquor Commissioner Jerry Schweighart. A notice of the penalties will be posted on the door of Kam's on the suspension days.

Frederick said he thinks factors other than the actual violations contributed to the severity of the penalty.

"It's all politics," Frederick told The Daily Illini. "That's all you're going to get out of me."

Berg said the suspension is meant to make Kam's more focused on compliance with Champaign law.

"Our emphasis is on trying to match the penalty with the violation. Our goal is to get voluntary compliance of (liquor licensees)," Berg said.

He said he thinks that the penalty is fair.

He said enforcement is something Kam's "should have done a better job at ... If they continue with these kinds of violations, their license is at risk."

However, Berg also said it would take multiple underage drinking violations for a bar's liquor license to be revoked.

Kam's was last suspended Dec. 27 and 28 for allowing a 19-year-old woman to drink there.

Kam's owner Eric Meyer was unavailable for comment Thursday.

In spite of the suspension, Berg said Campustown bars seem to be complying with Champaign law.

"I know that compliance rates have been running pretty high," Berg said. "That's indicative that (bars) are making more of and effort to curb underage drinking."

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