EVERETT – The state Liquor Control Board has suspended a downtown Everett bar’s license for six months after officials and police found the bar’s owner drunk on duty several times.
State law prohibits barkeepers from being intoxicated while serving alcohol, officials said.
The board has investigated Coyotes Bar &Grill at 2925 Wetmore Ave. several times this year, spokesman Brian Smith said.
The suspension is the first step towards revoking the business’s liquor license altogether, he said.
Coyotes received a liquor license in June 2006. Since then, the board has had several complaints of employees drinking and one complaint of after-hour sales, Smith said.
Bar owner Dan Stieben could not be reached for comment. There was no answer at the business Thursday evening.
In January, liquor control board agents visited the bar to warn Stieben that drinking on the job isn’t acceptable, Smith said.
Undercover agents went to the bar eight days later and observed Stieben drunk behind the bar again, he said.
On May 10, Everett police went to the bar and found Stieben apparently intoxicated and a customer, who was drunk, apparently serving another customer, also drunk, Smith said.
Stieben agreed to a breath test and was recorded at a blood-alcohol level of .247, three times the legal limit to drive, Smith said.
“It’s unusual to find an owner intoxicated and attempting to work at their bar,” Everett police Sgt. Robert Goetz said.
Everett police have visited the bar on numerous occasions, he said.
Stieben can appeal the suspension to a state administrative judge. The business could remain open but is barred from selling alcohol until Nov. 17, Smith said.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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