Liquor license hearing draws crowd in Wellington

By Kate Tarasenko
Correspondent

Seldom has Wellington seen so much drama as when its municipal liquor authority voted 5-1 not to renew the year-old Sports Barn Grill and Saloon's license during a hearing in late February. The license would have expired on March 31, but was suspended two weeks earlier.

The incident has polarized many of the town's residents and left a sour taste in the mouths of many of the Sports Barn's vocal supporters, a handful of whom staged pickets in March, protesting the decision.

"It's discrimination, pure and simple," chided Richard Present, co-owner of the Sports Barn. His felony conviction last year for cultivation of 60 marijuana plants in the Fort Collins home he shared with co-owner Michael Farrell, also convicted on felony drug charges, led to the town's convening of a show-cause hearing, its first in seven years.

The case also ignited a lively debate over the concept of "moral turpitude," just one of several issues cited in the hearing's findings. But Present declared that the real tipping point was determined by which side of the marijuana issue the board members came down on.

"Growing pot is not a crime of moral turpitude," claimed Tim McCarthy, attorney for the owners. "My client didn't think he would cause such an upheaval in the community."

Present, whose involvement in a car accident five years ago left him partially disfigured and in chronic pain, originally held a medical marijuana certificate in the state of California, which allowed him to possess up to six live plants.

Since his arrest, Present has received a certificate from the Colorado Medical Marijuana Registry, although the state doesn't require registration, since a verifiable disability or illness and a physician's recommendation are sufficient to be within the law. Indeed, many of those eligible decline to register to avoid scrutiny by law enforcement and possible prison time of up to six years if convicted for possession under state law.

In sidewalk discussions, the issue has been a polarizing one between those who see pot as an innocuous substance whose decriminalization is just a matter of time, as evidenced by last year's passage of Denver's Initiative 100 marijuana measure, and those who see pot as a gateway drug leading to other criminal activity.

Initiative 100 eliminated Denver's municipal ordinance prohibiting marijuana possession of less than 1 ounce. But it still runs aground of the state law prohibiting possession altogether. Voters statewide will have the opportunity to overcome that hurdle in November with the Alcohol-Marijuana Equalization Initiative, the second ballot measure sponsored by Safer Alternative For Enjoyable Recreation.

SAFER's premise that pot doesn't pose the same dangers that alcohol use does is one that has created opposition along political, and even generational, lines. Those differences are fueling the controversy surrounding the Sports Barn in particular and Wellington in general.

At the hearing, both Present and Farrell expressed remorse for their actions stemming from the pot bust, but insisted that their establishment was an asset to Wellington, both as a competitive business and a popular community hub. They testified that they contributed financially to every charity that approached them. They presented the board with a petition with more than 200 signatures, and pointed to the dozens of friends and patrons who showed up at the hearing in support. The men also cited their personal pride in employing only locals.

"Even child molesters?" called out Billy James, one of three people who went on the record to oppose the liquor license renewal. He was referring to Ben Vivian, a former Sports Barn employee who is being held at the Larimer County Detention Center in connection with an attack on a 14-year-old Wellington girl in her home last year. That issue found its way onto the list of findings that held against the owners.

Another of the findings, as delineated by town attorney Brad March, included building code violations. Farrell admitted that the sketches of the premises that he originally submitted to the licensing authority did not include plans to renovate the outdoor patio to provide shelter for smokers. This led to the owners being issued a cease-and-desist order for failing to secure a building permit before beginning work.

Farrell, 23, who appeared tearful at the beginning of his testimony, pleaded ignorance as to the work permit's necessity. "But for someone to challenge my character--my character is how I treat people," he added sternly.

The sketches also failed to note an adjoining door to a residence that Kenneth Padilla testified was used for a "party room," where drug paraphernalia was in plain view and where beer was consumed. This resulted in another finding in violation of the liquor code, despite Present's defense that the door was always dead-bolted and people were required to use the residence's exterior entrance.

Padilla, who previously supplied smoked meats to the Sports Barn, had a falling-out with the owners and won a judgment against them in small claims court for unpaid bills.

Larney Walker was one of four people who testified in support of renewal. Walker, who said he ate meals at the Sports Barn at least three times a week, testified that his wife, who died of cancer, suffered considerably before her death and was eligible to be on the medical pot registry. He said that Present and Farrell are hardworking and well liked in the community. "These aren't slackers," he said. "They're the kind of people who make me happy I live in Wellington."

Walker strongly disputed any question of moral turpitude on the part of Present or Farrell. "If we judge these people," he declared, "the moral problem is not theirs. Let them get back to work."

In the end, it was Trustee Reggie Kemp who drove the predominant point of the hearing home with one of his final questions to Present. "How do you characterize what you've done?" he asked.

"It was a serious, stupid mistake," Present answered, saying that he was growing 10 times his legal quota in order to harvest a year's worth of pot prior to having his fiancée and child move in with him. "It was my first mistake," he emphasized, "and I'm 35 years old."

"What you call a mistake is a felony," responded Kemp. "Someone who's been under medical marijuana certification for five years should know the law. Ignorance is no excuse. It's far beyond a mistake. I think it relates to character."

Following the three-hour hearing, Present, Farrell, McCarthy and a handful of supporters retreated to the Sports Barn on Wellington's Cleveland Avenue. Their reactions pinballed between disbelief and disgust.

"You can't tell me that we're not an asset to this town," charged Present. "A half a million dollars' worth of business in a town of 5,000? People want us here. The community needs us."

And while the owners and their attorney had yet to decide their next course of action--whether an appeal or a lawsuit--Present was certain of one thing: "I think we've put the town [board] in a position where they have to deal with us."