|
|
« R.I. sales and income tax receipts are down sharply | Today | Aquidneck group forms to oppose R.I. wind farm » May 5, 2008Providence board to decide on SNM Liquors license
Journal photo / Andrew Dickerman SNM Liquors owner Sean Merilan listens as two Barrington teenagers testify before the Board of Licenses today. PROVIDENCE -- The Board of Licenses will decide within 10 days whether to punish the license holder for SNM Liquors, the city store where Barrington teens bought alcohol that another Barrington teen drank before the car crash that killed 16-year-old passenger Jonathan Converse. During the hearing today, prosecutor Steven L. Catalano, an assistant city solicitor, established through the testimony today of a 17-year-old Barrington boy and Kurt Grusmark, 18, of 7 Lamson Road, Barrington, that they obtained alcohol from SNM Liquors Catalano established from the 17-year-old, who was 16 at the time of the purchase, that he made the buy on Nov. 5 last year at the counter while Grusmark, who was 17 at the time, hung back inside the store. The 17-year-old, during the hearing, identified the person who sold him the alcohol as Shawn Merilan. Merilan is the sole owner of the company that holds the liquor license for SNM Liquors, which is on Douglas Avenue. Testimony was that Merilan sold three 30-packs of Busch Light beer and one pint bottle of Kharkov vodka. -- projo.com staff writer Michael P. McKinney, with reports from Journal staff writer Gregory Smith Testimony also established that some of the alcohol was shared with Michael J. Silveira of Barrington. Silveira and a small group of teens spent the evening of Nov. 5 drinking Busch Light. The car he was driving that night sped down New Meadow Road and crashed, killing Converse. In December, Silveira pleaded no contest to driving under the influence with death resulting and was sentenced to serve two years at the state Training School. His full sentence was seven years, with five of those suspended. The 17-year-old and Grusmark at the time were Barrington High School students and played on the school's hockey team. Grusmark is now a senior at the school. The younger teen is a junior at Ocean Tides School in Narragansett and testified he is there under the auspices of Family Court as a result of having been charged with possession of alcohol by the Barrington police in connection with the transaction that came before the licensing board today. Catalano asked the board to permanantly revoke the store's liquor license. Defense lawyer Stephen DiLibero asked that it not be permanently revoked. Board chairman Andrew J. Annaldo said the board would decide what, if any, punishment to mete out within 10 days. Posted by Mike McKinney CommentsFed up! | May 6, 2008 8:57 AM link As a Barrington resident, I have to agree with"fed Up". These kids collected the money with the intention of buying alcohol,and had every intention of falsely representing their ages. They are the "star witnesses" I guess. All of a sudden, they are looking like "do-gooders". Well, if they had any type of consciences, they would have never been at that liquor store to begin with. They don't fool me for a second, just trying to take some guy down with them-typical of evey spoiled Barrington kid. After all, they were both thrown off a sports team this winter, and somehow they were allowed back on the team-no lessons learned there. Not when you land at the training school. frank | May 6, 2008 1:42 PM link Post a commentPlease be civil. Vicious comments, personal attacks and profanity won't be published. Name and email are required; email address will not publish. |
|
ADVERTISING |
|
|
|
|
| Su | Mo | Tu | We | Th | Fr | Sa |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | ||||
| 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 |
| 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 |
| 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 |
ProJo 9 to 5 News Blog
Oct 2005 - March 2006
Please tell me when these Barrington kids are going to be held responsible for their actions! It seems to me that it's so easy to point the finger at the seller, but the kids had no business being there in the first place. Should Mr. Merilin be held accountable for his actions? Of course! But these kids need to know that they can't just keep blaming everyone else for their poor judgments.
As a Providence resident I am also sick of the bad name the city gets everytime some rich kid wants to come here and buy drugs or alcohol. It's called supply and demand, people! If the rich kids from the 'burbs weren't coming to buy it then the poor, minoritites wouldn't need to sell it. Look in your own house before you start pointing the finger in this direction. YOU'RE the problem, NOT Providence!