Nov. 29--After more than 60 years in business, a well-known La Mesa restaurant has lost its liquor license in an unusual chain of events that has owners and customers frustrated. 

Chope's Restaurant, a popular regional fixture owned by the Yañez family since 1941, lost its license to sell alcohol Oct. 31 when an inspector from the state Department of Public Safety Special Investigations Division came into the restaurant and asked to see two licenses, according to owner Cecilia Yañez. The ruling does not affect the adjacent bar, which retains the license. 

Yañez, who runs the family business with her mother and sisters, said the inspector, Douglas Slavens, told her she had to have one license for the Chope's Restaurant and another for the bar, which is in an adjacent building. Yañez said she told Slavens that her family has used the same liquor license for both buildings since 1941, and that when they were told by the state Alcohol and Gaming Commission in 1990 that a second license was required for the restaurant, they were given permission to satisfy the law by constructing a sidewalk joining the two structures. 

According to Yañez, Slavens told her that the sidewalk did not satisfy legal requirements and instructed her to stop serving alcohol in the restaurant at the end of that business day. 

Yañez said business in the restaurant fell off almost immediately. 

"Most of our customers like a beer with their meal. They are pretty loyal, but the meal isn't the same without the beer," Yañez said last week. "Also, it is embarrassing for us to have to tell people we lost our liquor license. Our customers are surprised to hear that because they know us, and when they ask us `What did you do wrong?' it is hard, because we know that we did not do anything wrong." Yañez said she traveled to Santa Fe on Nov. 5 to meet with Bryan Brock of the Alcohol and Gaming Commission and was told that Chope's had been in violation of the law for at least 12 years. 

"Mr. Brock said he knew we had a good record and he wanted to help us, but that his hands were tied as far as the law goes," said Yañez. "I told him that in 1990 when the issue of two licenses was brought up to us, we were given permission to connect the restaurant and the bar with a sidewalk. But he said he had no record of that being done and suggested that we get a beer and wine license." Yañez said she had planned to apply for the beer and wine license until she received a phone call from Brock the next day. 

"He told me he had thought we were in Mesilla, not La Mesa. He said beer and wine licenses are only given within Las Cruces, so we'd have to go before the county commission to ask for one," said Yañez. 

"I told him I didn't think it was fair, because we have had inspectors coming every year, and when they asked about the two buildings, we told them the sidewalk had been approved and they never said there was a problem. I told Mr. Brock that if we have been breaking the law for 12 years, so has his department because his inspectors allowed the situation to continue." Brock confirmed his Nov. 5 conversation with Yañez and said he told her that the law does not permit him to grant a waiver or a time extension to Chope's. 

"I don't know how this happened, but I can assure you that the Division of Alcohol and Gaming did not know there were two separate buildings operating under one license for 12 years," he said from his Santa Fe office last week. "I pulled their file and there is just no evidence that a sidewalk was approved. Frankly, I can't imagine a sidewalk being approved, because that just doesn't meet the legal requirements. 

"The fact is, Chope's was informed in 1990 there was a problem and they were told to stop back then, and they continued to operate after they had been told it was illegal. So it's not fair to us for them to say to us, `you have always let us do it this way, so you should let us keep doing it this way.' They failed to abide by the law and were given ample warning." Brock said his goal is to assist Chope's to get in a position to start operating again and that Yañez must have misunderstood his phone call regarding wine and beer licenses. 

"I did not tell her the county only allows wine and beer licenses in Las Cruces. I told her that each town or village decides those licenses for itself in Doña Ana County," Brock said. "There has to be a vote in La Mesa to grant her the license, and I told her she could start getting the signatures she needs to put it to the voters. The outlying areas around Las Cruces have voted to have beer and wine licenses, so when I thought Chope's was in Mesilla, I thought she could get a license right away. But since Chope's is in La Mesa, they will have to have a vote. However, the county commission has nothing to do with it." Brock said he does not know why inspectors passed Chope's for 12 years. 

"It could be that no inspectors actually came. We have a small number of inspectors to cover many establishments and they don't always get to the ones in rural areas as often as we'd like," he said. "It could also be that the agent was not familiar with the law. It's impossible to guess from my end, because we only get reports if there is a citation, so I can't second guess what happened. Mrs. Yañez is a very nice person, though, and our office will do what we legally can to help her." Brock said it is very unusual for an establishment to go for 11 years in violation of state law without being cited. 

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