LYNNWOOD – Daverthumps Pub &Galley in Lynnwood tops a state list of businesses where drunken drivers say they were served before getting behind the wheel.

Four other Snohomish County bars also made the list, according to the state Liquor Control Board.

Daverthumps, which was No. 2 on the list in 2003, was named by 54 drunken drivers as the place they’d been drinking, the state reported. Police asked the drivers after they’d been arrested.

The popular pub, located in a Lynnwood strip mall, “has been an ongoing concern,” said Kate Miyasato, a senior enforcement officer for the Liquor Control Board’s Northwest Region.

The list can indicate a bar has a problem with overserving patrons, Miyasato said. Better tracking by police and more aggressive enforcement in Snohomish County also likely pushed up the numbers here, she said.

“I don’t think we’re any worse than the rest of the state,” she said. “It’s not that these bars are horrible. I really do think it’s because of the aggressive police work.”

Daverthumps owner Don Mayfield says he’s trying to bring its number down by working with the state Liquor Control Board.

“We’ve been trying hard and doing our best,” Mayfield said. “We’re constantly working on it.”

Last year, the pub limited the hours it sells shots of liquor, doubles and pitchers. It also required patrons to order drinks from their servers, and not from the bar, after 12:30 a.m. as a way to better monitor alcohol consumption; posted fliers reminding patrons they’ll be cut off if servers believe they have had enough. The bar also offers to call for a safe ride home for anyone unable to drive.

Liquor control officers also provided training for pub employees. The pub, at 19720 44th Ave. W., was fined $300 by the state in December 2003 for allowing a drunken patron to consume alcohol.

The Liquor Control Board is considering stepping up enforcement there in 2005.

“Since we’re not seeing much success with the numbers, we’re going to reexamine how we’re doing things,” Miyasato said.

Daverthumps can’t be closed or penalized for its driving-under-the-influence rating, she said. But multiple violations of state liquor laws could put its license in jeopardy, she said.

The list of businesses “is a good education tool,” she said. “You can almost always find a pattern. Sometimes it’s tied to a particular activity. Not that the activity is bad, but it brings in a lot of patrons.”

Yet the list has limits.

Some drunken drivers won’t say where they’ve been drinking when they’re pulled over, she said. Others won’t tell the truth.

Officers doing lengthy jail bookings for drunken drivers will sometimes fail to record where a driver had been drinking last, even if they do know, Miyasato said.

“We’ve hammered it so much in this part of the state, officers are taking the time to look that information up and include it,” she said.

Despite efforts from the state to reduce drunken driving, State Patrol troopers caught a record number of offenders in November, Trooper Lance Ramsay said.

Last month alone, troopers arrested 305 intoxicated drivers in Snohomish County, up from 209 in November 2003.

“Every year we tell people not to drink and drive because you can die or kill somebody else, but we still have DUIs,” Ramsay said.

Increased enforcement has brought down the number of fatal accidents and DUI-related crashes, though, he said.

“Everyone should plan before they go out celebrating,” Snohomish County DUI Task Force Coordinator Tracy McMillan said. “Once you start partying, your judgment goes out the window. Plan ahead and get a designated driver.”

Shannon Sessions, editor of the Lynnwood/Mountlake Terrace Enterprise, contributed to this story.