Proposed beer tent rules sent to Legislature 

By JOHN KOZIOL

Staff Writer

LACONIA — Bike Week beer tents could be much smaller in coming years if a legislative committee accepts changes recommended Thursday by the New Hampshire State Liquor Commission.

By a 2-1 vote, the commission sent several proposed changes in its operating rules — including how it handles requests for extension-of-service licenses — to the Joint Legislative Committee on Administrative Rules (JLCAR).

The JLCAR is expected to consider the changes at its May 19 meeting, according to a committee staff member.

Chief Aidan Moore, head of the NHSLC’s Bureau of Enforcement, said the commission also decided that it will not wait for the JLCAR to act on the changes, but will process extension-of-service requests under its current policies.

The extension-of-service licenses permit a business that already holds a state liquor license for a restaurant or lounge to be extend that service to another area, such as a beer tent.

Last year, the commission, citing public safety concerns, first rejected but subsequently approved several extension-of-service license for businesses in The Weirs.

In large part due to the flap resulting from that action, the commission launched a review of its policies that culminated with a public hearing on April 10 on the proposed changes.

At the hearing, most of the testimony was directed to a proposal that would limit the occupancy in beer tents, or in areas where the service is being extended, to no more than three times the licensed occupancy of the establishment.

Such a change could reduce the number of patrons permitted in a Bike Week tent to a fraction of what it had been in previous years.

For example, for Bike Week 2002, the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound and Broken Spoke initially sought to have beer tents with occupancies of 2,000 and 2,500, respectively, but later, each agreed to having no more than 1,000 people inside the tents at one time.

Under the NHSLC’s proposed occupancy formula, the Lobster Pound, with only 78 licensed seats, could extend its service to 234 patrons while the Broken Spoke, with licensed seating for 145 could have a beer tent with a capacity for 435 patrons.

Attorney John Deachman, who represents the Broken Spoke and the Weirs Beach Lobster Pound, was unavailable for comment on Thursday.

Both businesses have extension-of-service requests before the NHSLC, but the Broken Spoke, unlike the Lobster Pound does not yet have permission from the Laconia Motorcycle Technical Review Committee to have a beer tent.

The NHSLC requires that applicants obtain local permission for a beer tent before it will consider an extension-of-service request.

Earlier this year, the MTRC approved permits for tents at the Paradise Beach Club on Lakeside Avenue and at the Naswa Resort on Weirs Boulevard, neither of which has yet filed with the NHSLC, said Moore.

At the commission’s April 10 public hearing on the proposed changes, Laconia Fire Chief Ken Erickson said he supported the beer tents because they were safer than the alternative of having Bike Week patrons congregate in restaurants or bars to drink. Erickson said many of those buildings pose fire-suppression and evacuation challenges.

Laconia Police Chief Tom Oetinger told the commission that the problems for the Laconia Police Department begin when the tents shut down.

People leaving the beer tents cause many disturbances and get into a “significant” number of motor vehicle accidents, said Oetinger, who expressed concern that “mega-tents” where alcohol is served promote “a culture of drinking.”

“There has to be some sort of limit,” he said.

Psychologist Jody Fine of Genesis Behavioral Health testified that as crowds get bigger and more inebriated, there takes place “a diffusion of responsibility” which is “a recipe for trouble.”

Charlie St. Clair, executive director of the Laconia Motorcycle Rally and Race Week Association, told the commission that abuse of alcohol “is a concern of myself and everyone with the Rally,” but that in his opinion, the NHSLC’s current permitting process “works fine.”

Mayor Mark Fraser on Thursday echoed comments he made in a letter that was submitted to the NHSLC on April 10.

“We want to see the event (Bike Week) be responsible and I know that the businesses in The Weirs that serve alcohol and are asking to extend their businesses have every intention of abiding by the rules of the State Liquor Commission and to train their people to identify irresponsible drinkers and do what is best not only for their own businesses” but also for all Bike Week visitors, said Fraser.

John Koziol can be reached at 524-3800 ext. 5940 or by e-mail at jkoziol@citizen.com