Fanatics bar has been given a three-day beer license suspension after an employee drank on the job and then struck a firefighter who was directing traffic.

In the incident on Feb. 1, Chattanooga Police Officer Brian Blumberg responded to an accident on East Brainerd Road. When he arrived, he found Larry O'Rear, who had been helping direct traffic at the site of a crash, had been struck by a car driven by Andrea Payne. She told the officer she had come from Fanatics Sports Bar and Grill, 7601 E. Brainerd Road, where she worked.

She told the officers that day she worked from 11 a. m. until 8:30 p.m. It was Super Bowl Sunday and the bar was very busy. She admitted that she had consumed two shots of Fireball whiskey that had been purchased for her by a customer, one at 5:30 and another at 7:30 at the business.

She had driven about one mile when the incident occurred at 9:15 p.m. She told the officer that she realized she had hit something but did not know what it was. The officer testified there was significant damage to the windshield.

Officer Blumberg administered a standard field sobriety test to Ms. Payne and told the board that her performance, along with the smell of alcohol, led him to believe she was intoxicated. She consented to take a breathalyzer test. Her blood alcohol level measured .128. The legal limit in Tennessee for a driver 21 or older is .08.

The citation being considered by the board was if owner Greg Vandiver had consumed or allowed his employees to consume alcohol at the bar. An employee cannot drink alcohol where they are employed at any time, even when they are not working. Attorney John Anderson, representing Fanatics, presented four witnesses to verify that this information was taught to all employees when they were trained. They also gave testimony that at no time did the owner or managers give consent for doing so.

Mr. Vandiver told the board that Ms. Payne was terminated the day following the accident after he got all the facts. He said this was company policy and had happened once before.

The board was troubled by what Andre Harriman said was “real mismanagement.” The bar has no bartender and the servers fix drinks for customers themselves “So really, any person can pour what they want. It’s not supervised,” said Mr. Harriman. Tabs are started under the name of the server who starts the table, but other servers help from that point without their names showing up on the register. This provides no record of who actually serves drinks. It is done this way because people move around, the owner said.

Also a claim by the night manager, Lisa Lovelace, that she had had a face to face conversation with Ms. Payne and she had not been drinking that night was questioned by Assistant City Attorney Keith Reisman. He said that it is speculation to testify that she saw Ms. Payne every moment and to say she did not drink. “You don’t know she didn’t drink.”

The motion to suspend Fanatics' beer license for three days starting on March 19 and to put a letter of reprimand in the business’s file passed on a vote of four to two.

The Chattanooga Beer Board was instrumental in developing a policy that the local beer board and state alcohol boards exchange information concerning violations and penalties, said Mr. Resiman. Two other violations the beer board heard Thursday morning came as referrals from the Tennessee Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC).

The beer board received notification from the ABC of the sale of beer to a minor, which took place on Jan. 28. Attorney Britt James, representing Bud’s Sports Bar, 5751 Brainerd Road. said that since 1978 this was the first violation involving beer being sold to an underage customer. They have, however, been before the board for other infractions of the beer code, noted Mr. Harriman. They have had issues with over-serving a visibly intoxicated person as well as allowing an intoxicated person to leave the bar resulting in a fatality.

The reciprocal notification policy with the ABC would allow the beer board to mirror the same 10-day penalty that had been given by the ABC. However, that motion failed to get a majority of the beer board vote and instead the bar received a suspension of five days beginning on March 12.

Another notification from the ABC came for a violation of selling beer to a minor at Asia Buffet, 6901 Lee Hwy. Owner Lian Mel Lin failed to appear at the beer board meeting. Attorney Resiman told the board that non appearance shall impose the same violation that was given by the ABC. Consequently a suspension of the beer license for 15 days was given to the restaurant. It will begin March 12.

One new beer license was issued Thursday. Wheelie’s Bar and Grill, 742 Ashland Terrace, will be allowed to serve beer at the full menu restaurant which plans on having entertainment. Hours of operation will be 11 a.m.–1 a. m. on weekends and until 10 p.m. on Sunday through Thursday.

Aaron Matt Lewis and Allison Sweat were given a special event beer permit for The Honest Pint’s “St. Paddy’s Party on the Parkway.” Patten Parkway will be barricaded on each end, and a number of bands have been booked. It will take place from noon until midnight. Proceeds will benefit the Chattanooga Autism Center.

A fundraising event for the Normal Park Museum magnet PTA known as “Fork and Gavel” was given a special event permit for March 21 from 6 to 11 p.m. at Stratton Hall, 3146 Broad St. Multiple area restaurants will have different stations for food, beer and alcohol.