Smith Point to Pay Fine and Close for Memorial Day

Georgetown bar and restaurant hosted a New Year's Eve party with a live band and is now paying for it by shutting down for Memorial Day. An Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration (ABRA) investigator charged that the institution violated sections of D.C. Code by hosting a New Year's Eve Party with live music. The Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board reviewed the charges against Smith Point today.

The Georgetown club violated areas of D.C. Code when it made a "substantial change in operation without board approval" and "failed to obtain an entertainment endorsement" by hosting the event.

The club hosted a New Year's Eve party in 2010. The party flier highlighted that guests would enjoy live music from the band Sick Feed. A Georgetown Patch was used as documentation in the case against the club.

One of the club's owners, Robert "Bo" Blair, admitted in a hearing on another issue in January that his business had knowingly hosted the New Year's Eve party without an entertainment endorsement.

When an ABC Board member at the previous hearing asked why Blair would do so, Blair responded "purely for financial reasons."

"I needed to have a good night on New Year's Eve, and with the competition out there I needed to bring in a band to make it," Blair explained.

At the hearing today, Smith Point's owners agreed to pay a fine of $1,500 within the next 30 days and to a four-day suspension of their license. The four days will take place beginning with Memorial Day. From Monday, May 30, through Thursday, June 2, the institution will be closed.

The ABC board approved the agreement by a vote of five to one, with board member Herman Jones objecting.