Politics & Government

Beijing Back at Town Hall

The owners of Beijing went back to the selectmen to swap license suspension dates Monday night.

The owners of Beijing Restaurant requested to swap some of their liquor suspension dates, which had been imposed two weeks ago. At that meeting, the restaurant's manager tried to change the suspension dates 20 minutes after they agreed to the ones picked, and the selectmen told them they would have to submit a new letter and come back. So they did.

This time, the owner, Wen Jing Huang, speaking through her translator and manager David Yung, asked for forgiveness and leniency, saying that the designated suspension dates would have a "major impact" on business. They also said they would like to have consecutive dates that coincide with plans to renovate their bar.

"You'd like this permission to change the imposed dates that are to basically punish you so that they coincide with your renovations?" Selectman Tracy Watson asked.

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"No,"Yung replied.

"Hmmm, that's kind of what you just said," Watson said.

Find out what's happening in North Andoverwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Yung then said they would only renovate the bar if there were consecutive no-liquor days and that the renovations were "for security purposes."

In the end, the selectmen set the remaining liquor suspension dates at Nov. 24, Nov. 26, Dec. 25, and five consecutive days starting on Dec. 26.

On Feb. 6, according to previous testimony, North Andover police officers Chris Smedile and Eric Sewade saw a Sandown, N.H., man in the Beijing parking lot at at about 1 a.m. outside throwing pieces of ice.

The customer, who the officers said appeared intoxicated, told them he had been at the restaurant and didn't have a ride. The man went back into the restaurant to use the restroom, and the officers spoke with Ng, who admitted the man had been drinking there that night and may have already been intoxicated when he arrived.

After he came back outside, the man was reportedly belligerent and disorderly, so the officers took him to the North Andover Police Station in protective custody.

The town's Licensing Board decided to pull Beijing's liquor license for 10 days, and Beijing's owners brought it up for appeal to the ABCC this summer, but the ABCC ruled in the Licensing Board's favor and the suspension remained. This week's meeting was simply to determine the specific dates of suspension.

in imposing the suspension dates and convinced the selectmen to agree to set separate dates for the suspension rather than consecutive dates. This week, they returned to the selectmen to negotiate even more changes, this time requesting five of the dates be consecutive.

Victor Ng has since been "releived of his duties," Yung said Monday.

 

Also from the selectmen's meeting:

  • Selectmen voted to call for an emergency Town Meeting Nov. 17 to have voters decide if they want the town to purchase new fire trucks for the Fire Department. More on that is in our series Playing With Fire.
  • There will now be an electronic voting system for overseas ballots, to enable voters to submit their votes electronically instead of mailing them. This is expected to make voting much more efficient with the primary being so close to the general election. People who are in town, but busy can avoid the lines by obtaining an absentee ballot.
  • Alternate voting places were approved in case North Andover High School becomes unavailable for some reason. Alternate locations include Town Hall, the Senior Center, North Andover Youth Services, Merrimack College, North Andover Middle School, and Kittredge, Sargent and Thomson elementary schools.
  • "Knight Lights" fundraiser was approved. The North Andover Schools Enrichment Council will display and sell luminary bags around town in February. Last winter the fundraiser was a success.
  • Trick-or-treating will be Oct. 31, expanded from 5 to 8 p.m.
  • A Menorah will be permitted to be displayed on the Common from Nov. 28 to Dec. 12.


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