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Northern California's Konocti Harbor Resort Has
 Liquor License Suspended for 32 Days
By Tiffany Revelle, Lake County Record Bee, Lakeport, Calif.McClatchy-Tribune Regional News

April 10, 2009 - LAKE COUNTY The California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) suspended Konocti Harbor Resort & Spa's liquor license for 32 days last month.

The resort's license was suspended for selling alcohol to people younger than 21 and because minors who had alcohol were on the resort's premises at one of the events the resort held in 2008, according to Michael Korson, district administrator of the Santa Rosa ABC office. The suspension began March 23 and ends April 24. It marks the fourth time the resort's license has been suspended, according to ABC records, found at www.abc.ca.gov.

"The department may seek revocation on the third violation, but it (state law) doesn't say shall' or must.' The department can evaluate each case on a case-by-case basis," Korson said.

Korson said the department can revoke a business' liquor license if the license is suspended three times within three years. He said the resort's current license suspension and the two prior suspensions occurred within three years of each other, but ABC opted to stay the revocation for 18 months.

If the resort is found to be selling alcohol to minors again within 18 months, ABC will revoke the license, according to Korson. He said once a business' liquor license is revoked, the business can re-apply a year later.

"It's essentially a form of revocation sitting on the license; it's like they are on probation," Supervising ABC Investigator Tony Carrancho said.

The resort is prohibited from selling beer, wine and distilled spirits anywhere on the resort's property until the suspension is lifted, according to Korson. He said ABC does not regulate alcohol consumption inside the resort's privately occupied rooms, and consumers can still bring alcohol bought somewhere else onto the property.

Greg Bennett, the resort's president and general manager, said he developed strict policies for the 2009 season that he hopes will prevent further incidents of underage drinking. He said alcohol consumption will no longer be allowed on the resort grounds, except in licensed areas.

"We have implemented that policy and some additional policies in a proactive approach. If a minor is found with alcohol on the grounds it puts everyone's job at the resort in jeopardy, so we will be watching that very, very strictly," Bennett said

The resort's liquor license was suspended for 20 days in January 2007, the first time it had been suspended since 1991, according to a prior statement from Bennett (Record-Bee, Feb. 16, 2007). Undercover ABC agents found 40 incidents of minors purchasing and/or consuming alcohol at the resort during the 2006 BoardStock extreme sporting event.

Korson said the dates of the alleged violations for the current suspension are not public record.

Contact Tiffany Revelle at [email protected], or call her directly at 263-5636, ext. 37.

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To see more of the Lake County Record Bee or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.record-bee.com/.

Copyright (c) 2009, Lake County Record Bee, Lakeport, Calif.

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