Posted on: Friday, July 20, 2001
Ke'eaumoku Street bar keeps license for now
By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Honolulu Liquor Commission yesterday held off on revoking the license of a Ke'eaumoku Street hostess bar for at least a month because of protests by the establishment's attorneys.
The commission last month voted to revoke the license of Golden Dolls Showgirls after its owner, Yvonne Dang, was found guilty of 14 liquor law violations. The charges included allowing a minor to dance nude and permitting unregistered dancers to perform.
But the bar was allowed to continue operating until the commission formally adopted its findings. That was supposed to happen yesterday, but Golden Dolls attorneys Michael Green and David Gierlach asked that the ruling be delayed because of new evidence.
During last month's adjudication hearing, Dang claimed that the commission in June 2000 granted her permission to exempt the second floor of her bar from commission rules. The alleged violations occurred during a police undercover investigation on the bar's second floor in September.
But Dang could not produce any evidence of the exemption and her claim was dismissed by the commission.
Yesterday, Green said the file on the Golden Dolls case is missing. However he was able to produce an internal commission document that showed the commission's administrative staff agreed to the exemption, although the commission itself did not act on the matter.
Green said the exemption proves that the commission has no jurisdiction over activities on the second floor.
Commission chairman John Spierling questioned how Green could have acquired such an internal document. He said the document represented only one step in the process and the request required commission approval.
Gierlach said that once the commission staff approved the exemption, a letter should have been sent to Dang, telling her that she needed to apply to the commission for a formal exemption. But, Gierlach said, there is no record of any letter or commission action.
Spierling said he had no answers as to why the file was missing or why the commission wasn't aware of the exemption application. He and the commission agreed to delay action on the revocation for one month.
