Wayland Store Put on Liquor License Probation, Two-Day Suspension

Wayland Variety & Deli will be under a one-year liquor license probation period, beginning Nov. 20, following failure of a compliance check conducted on Nov. 1.

Wayland Police Chief Bob Irving and Wayland Variety & Deli owner Paul Patel met with selectmen Monday night for a liquor license violation hearing.

According to Irving, a clerk at Wayland Variety & Deli sold a six-pack of Heineken beer to a 19-year-old girl during a police compliance check on Nov. 1.

In addition to selling alcohol to an underage person, Irving said, the clerk who sold the alcohol had allowed his certification in safe alcohol serving to lapse. Irving went on to explain that Patel told him the only person working at the store whose certification was current, was the owner himself. While not a state law, Wayland selectmen require that all person's serving alcohol in town be certified in safe alcohol service.

Irving passed around photos of the 19-year-old working with police to conduct the compliance checks.

"Any reasonable person would expect the clerk or the person selling the alcohol to ask for ID before they made the sale,” Irving said.

Patel apologized for the failure to properly check ID, and told selectmen his employees are now all in the process of being re-certified to serve.

"He did nothing but apologize," Patel said of the employee who sold the beer. "It should never have happened."

Selectmen expressed concern that the liquor license for Wayland Variety & Deli is only about two years old.

"Of particular concern to me, this is a new license," said selectman Joe Nolan. "In only two years or so, it seems that the owner here had gotten lax."

The chief recommended a one-year probation period as well as a one-day suspension of the store's liquor license as the penalty, saying that was in line with previous penalties handed down by selectmen.

Nolan, however, noted that there were two violations in this case -- selling the alcohol and the lapsed certification -- and suggested a three-day suspension.

In the end, selectmen compromised on the penalty, voting 3-1, with Ed Collins as the dissenting vote, to levy a two-day suspension, effective Nov. 30-Dec. 1; a one-year probation period; and a requirement that Patel be on the premises when alcohol is sold until his employees can be re-certified.

Selectman Chair John Bladon was not present for the meeting and Correia served as chair in his absence.