Trustee proposes allowing alcoholic beverages in municipal park, other public places here

by Dan McClelland

The issue of consuming alcoholic beverages in the Tupper Lake Municipal Park- and in particular in the grandstands and seating areas of the new ball field- was raised by Trustee Ron LaScala at the July village board meeting.

He began by noting that while he is aware of the village local law prohibiting the practice, he believes it should be rescinded. “I think we should get rid of it,” he told his colleagues in the village board room that evening.

Mr. LaScala said the current village law that prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverages by spectators at the athletic matches there and by those who attend events like the Woodsmen’s Days and such “is a major obstacle for promoting commerce down at the park!”

“It’s difficult for organizations to have successful public events when alcoholic beverages are not allowed! It’s a cultural thing...people like to drink beer at a ball game...people like to drink beer at a concert.”

“This is a discussion the board needs to have” if the community is to derive the most benefit from athletic and recreational events staged in the village-owned park.

“I am personally in favor of removing the local law so we can bring some different types of events to Tupper Lake and not have to jump threw so many hoops” to permit alcohol to be served and consumed in the park.

Trustee Jason McClain said it was his understanding that the local law prohibits the consumption of alcoholic beverage in all public places in the village, not just in the park.

Mr. LaScala said the law should be lifted in the entire village.

“People can smoke cigarettes anywhere they want in public. You can walk down a sidewalk and smoke a cigarette. I should be able to walk down the sidewalk and take a drink of a beer, if that’s what I choose to do!”

“It’s sold in local stores. It’s not marketed to children. I don’t think it should be at little league games, but those are rules” organizers should set.

He said he believes it should be legal for baseball fans and concert-goers to enjoy these events and also enjoy a couple of beer while doing so.

Deputy Mayor Leon LeBlanc wondered “where the board would draw the line” on at which events there can be alcohol consumed and which ones it can’t be.

Trustee McClain said he figured regular state laws could determine how alcoholic beverages could be served and consumed at outdoor events in the community, and handle things in the event rowdiness or disorderly conduct erupts.

Trustee LaScala agreed. “We have enough laws on the books to handle any situation that might come up!”

“Tupper Lake is not unique. The entire state is in the same situation with the same laws. I understand why some of these laws were passed in the past. In previous administrations there were problems in the park and there were a lot of mistakes made. People in charge did the best they could at the time!”

“A former administration thought (those non-drinking rules) were the best, and may be they were?”

“But I also think society has moved forward!”

Mr. LeBlanc had some questions for his colleague.

“You say for the concerts. You want it to be all right to drink a beer at a concert. What if you take your beer and walk up the street with it. You want to change that part of the law too?”

Mr. LaScala said he did.

Mr. LeBlanc said he did not feel that practice was acceptable. “Not in my community! I think that’s wrong, Ron!”

“That’s okay Leon...I understand,” Mr. LaScala told him.

Mr. LeBlanc said if someone was walking on a village street drinking a beer and was hit by a vehicle “someone, probably the village, would be liable.”

At that point in the discussion, Mayor Paul Maroun said Village Attorney Nathan Race of Malone was going to be meeting with the village board within the next month.

“Before then we’ll get him to pull some local laws from some of the villages around us and we’ll also have our insurance company representative come up and meet with us. There’s some issues with liability we must explore!”

The mayor said like Mr. LaScala that “it is a discussion we should have!”

At the present time some baseball fans and concert-goers are bringing beer and other alcoholic beverages with them to events in the park and quietly and discreetly consuming them. Village police are also using discretion in their enforcement of open container laws.

“We all know what’s going on!” he admitted.

Mayor Maroun said it would be an item for discussion again at the August village board meeting.

He said the village board in the past has issued variances that permitted event organizers or business owners to allow alcoholic beverages to be purchased and consumed at events on village streets or in the park. The Big Tupper Brewery on Cliff Ave., for example, was given special permission for its outdoor events a number of times in recent years.

The laws against public drinking have also been suspended at block dances and such in the past.

“We have the right to lift those laws temporarily by board resolution,” Village Clerk Mary Casagrain reminded the mayor and trustees.

She said there must first be a written request for the board to take that action.

She noted too the area where the exemption applies must be cordoned off for the purposes of that specific event.

“The park is already sort of cordoned off” from the rest of the community,” Trustee Clint Hollingsworth commented.

“Here’s my question,” continued Mr. LaScala. “Can we only apply the exemption (to local drinking laws) to the park only. Can we have events at the park where alcohol can be consumed and we don’t have to jump through a bunch of hoops?” he wondered.

Mr. Hollingsworth wondered if there have been any public incidents of late over this practice of people quietly consuming a few drinks at a public event in the park that have brought the issue to a head.

Mr. LaScala answered him. “The reason I am bringing this up is that there are signs down there that read ‘No alcohol.’ -And yet there are taxpayers and residents who are drinking in the park. These are adults who are at least 21 years old and many pay taxes. They go to work, they raise their families...they are free Americans. They should have the right to drink in a park that they pay for! As a board we have no right to tell someone they can’t do something that is completely legal everywhere else!”

“It seems silly to me that we should think we have the ability on this board to tell people they can’t drink at the park when they pay for it!” asserted Trustee LaScala.

He said there have been “zero incidents” as a result of the common practice there to date this summer or in recent summers.

Mayor Paul Maroun said years ago there were some alcoholic-related troubles at park events.

“There have been no police calls” related to these public events in the park this summer, he noted.

Mr. Hollingsworth wondered if the village police officers have enforced the “no alcohol” rule and Mr. LaScala said they haven’t.

“So it’s not really an issue?” Mr. Hollingsworth asked.

“The issue is that people or organizations want to have an event and it’s always an issue when they ask us if they can serve alcohol and ‘we say: no!’” Mr. LaScala replied.

He said he had been approached by former Trustee David “Haji” Maroun who was trying to secure permission for the River Pigs franchise to sell alcoholic beverages at games as a fundraiser. “The village insurance company doesn’t want alcohol served in the park at games because we have a local law that says you can’t! So I told Haji I’d bring it up to the board!”

“Every time someone wants to have an event in the park and serve alcohol, it’s a huge issue!”

“Let’s get some answers and we’ll discuss it at our next board meeting,” suggested the mayor.

Mr. LaScala was agreeable to that.

In a related matter Mr. Hollingsworth wondered how the owners of Lakeview Lanes made out with their application for an outdoor liquor permit for their new patio area.

Mayor Maroun said letters of support from the board backed their application but he has not heard how their application was received by the state liquor authority.