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Baseball Tavern striking out when it comes to keeping out teen drinkers, board warns

Two Boston College students who decided to venture into the wilds of the Fenway got the Baseball Tavern on Boylston Street hauled before the Boston Licensing Board today after police detectives found them enjoying a couple of bottles of Bud Light on Dec. 31.

One of the detectives who cited the bar said that on a return visit, he and his partner - and their supervisor - found more underage drinkers and issued another citation. And then, when they returned 20 minutes later, Sgt. Det. Robert Mulvey said, he saw a doorman letting young-looking would-be patrons in without even running their alleged IDs through a license scanner.

"We keep having problems" at the bar, Mulvey said.

Mulvey and the two other detectives arrived at the Baseball Tavern around 10 p.m. on Dec. 31 and immediately spotted two young-looking guy sitting at a high-top table in the middle of the bar with two beers. One turned out to be just 18 and said he'd used an older friend's ID - and that they'd gone to the Baseball Tavern because of campus scuttlebutt the bar was easy to get into. The other, 19, told police he used a fake ID, but no longer had it because he gave it to another friend to use.

Bar officials say they turned away other underage kids that night, that the one kid's New York ID came back as valid when scanned. And they used the incident as a learning experience to help retrain staff.

"It's just not working out," board Chairwoman Christine Pulgini said. "You guys have had so many underage patrons." And looking at one of the real IDs handed over to police that night, she expressed amazement he was let in. "This kid looks about 12 years old," she said.

The board, which asked the bar to prepare a formal security plan for handling tykes trying to get a drink, decides Thursday what action, if any, to take on the Dec. 31 incident.

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Comments

This is the same place that is haunted by the ghost of the 1270? We didn't have these problems when I used to go there back in the 70s when the drinking age was 18. Not to mention that Tuesdays and Sundays were two-for-one drink nights. And even with all that I don't recall that there was nearly as much trouble as there seem to be at these places now.

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because some girl got run over by her drunk friend 30+ years ago. The pearl clutchers banded together to do away with cheap drinks in MA. It's like back then "thoughts and prayers" didn't exist.

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It was the one incident that people organized around - the straw that broke the camel's back, if you will.

You have to understand that drunk driving was a much more serious problem with a certain age group - said age group continuing to have a serious problem while younger age groups take drunk driving much more seriously and do a lot less of it.

You have to understand what the context is to understand why this happened and how it sorted out. People were very angry at the death toll and wanted it to stop - much the way that people are now angry at the loser driver death toll and want it to stop.

I never thought that ending happy hour would make much of a difference - and it probably hasn't. Just like high drinking ages probably aren't smart anymore. But I don't mind that happy hour is now a food thing and not a drink thing here.

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I'm just going to blame 1983 and Tipper Gore*

MADD is why we have it. Thanks MADD.

* I know it probably wasn't her but I was 6 in 1983 so all I can go on what I was told and how nasty Tipper Gore was about "Sugar Walls"

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Has such a good eye for fakes, maybe she should work in the private sector.

Just because I want the board to go away doesn't mean I don't want the members to find jobs.

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The kid's real license, which he produced when the detectives got him to admit his true identity (as it is, he still faces a criminal charge of using somebody else's license to procure alcohol).

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Parents don't teach their kids to say "I want my lawyer?"

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You request a lawyer in this situation....you get arrested and a criminal record of an arraignment.

You answer questions.....you get a probable cause hearing and most likely no record.

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Thank you for sharing.

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How is that not construed as retaliation for exercising one's basic rights? Either the offense is arrestable or it isn't, or am I missing some aspect of this?

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If you lawyer up, everything has to go down at the police station, so things are formalized. The lawyer might help, but maybe only when you are in front of a judge.

I saw a series of lectures on the general topic from a Regents University law class, with one cop arguing in favor of keeping silent with another one explaining the virtues of cooperating with an investigation. In short, talking to a cop could get you to say something wrong, but cooperation is viewed favorably going forward. So, do you want to fight charges or fess up and let the chips fall where they may?

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I've found that there are some crimes where you should always cooperate with the police and not ask for an attorney, and there are others where you should keep quiet and always ask for one. Of course the main factor is also whether or not you actually committed a crime.

I hate giving out tips, but if you are drunk driving you should always refuse the breath test, and probably refuse the road test (and say you can't do it because you have a bad back or are recovering from an injury). Since you have a 100% chance of getting arrested and you are drunk, you should take your chances (probably over 80%) of getting a not guilty in court.

If you are accused of sexual assault and you did not do it, you don't want the police to only have the word of the person accusing you. Sounds backwards because it is a very serious charge, but I have found that when people who are accused of certain types of sexual assaults (usually date type situations where there is a lot of alcohol, some consensual activity, and a possible unstable accuser) you should come forward and tell your side of the story, as you will most likely debunk some of the statements made against you (again, this is only if you are really innocent, if you aren't sure, yea, get an attorney). Sexual Assault cases, especially date rape type ones also have high rates of not guilty verdicts.

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In other words, a female.

You might want to read through that again, see how bad it sounds.

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But it also depends on the suspect is refusing to answer and their level of cooperation.

If the police have probable cause to arrest someone, they have options. A person has the right to an attorney and not speak, and the police have the right to arrest or not arrest.

In a situation like this, the police have PC to arrest or summons. If the suspect refuses to answer any questions, the police can't even write a basic report because the suspect isn't giving their name, real address, how they got in the bar, etc, etc. They might have evidence on their person (fake ID) which legally the police may have the right to search them for on the spot.

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That's exactly what it is, like how if you opt for a trial, they'll throw the book at you, but if you cut a deal, they'll give you a more lenient sentence. It's one of the myriad ways that that constitutional rights have become a joke in this country.

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"Am I being detained?"
"Am I free to go?"
The only two things you ever say to a police officer in an interaction that you didn't voluntarily initiate.

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How do you enjoy bud light? Perhaps "tolerating" or "suffering through"?

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It didn't take me long to utter I'm too old for this shit.

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Two Boston College students who decided to venture into the wilds of the Fenway

No Adam, the wilds of fenway would be the pickle park behind the "victory gardens"

:)

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