Saugus selectmen clear Hooters over underage drinking incident

SAUGUS – Hooters owners escaped charges of wrong doing in regards to a case of underage drinking but the minor involved was not so lucky.Police Chief Domenic DiMella said Tuesday that Donald Kosova, 18, of Saugus is being charged with operating under the influence in connection with a car accident.Last month police responded to an accident scene that left a car buried in a snowbank on Main Street. The driver was identified as Leigh Pike, 21, of Lynnfield but officers now believe that was incorrect. DiMella said witnesses put Kosova behind the wheel of the car and he is being charged as such.”He still claims he wasn’t driving,” DiMella said. “His girlfriend also says she was driving. He has a lawyer.”It was also determined at the time of the accident that Kosova was drunk. When officers asked where he had been drinking he told them at Hooters. He reportedly told police the waitress never asked him for identification. Police reports indicate, however, that the waitress, when questioned later, said she did ask Kosova for identification and he produced one.It was that part of the incident that piqued the Board of Selectmen’s interest, causing them to invite Hooters owners Marc Phaneuf Jr. and Marc Phaneuf Sr. to tell their side of the story during their meeting Tuesday.Selectman Michael Kelleher said the invitation, “wasn’t to bring you in under the presumption that there is a problem.” Rather, he added it was to clear the air as to what happened.”He did come in and show a false ID,” said Marc Phaneuf Jr. “That’s our belief.”Kelleher asked Phaneuf if the restaurant had a card reader, which can tell with a fairly high accuracy rating if an ID is fake or not by reading the magnetic strip or the bar code on the back of an identification card.Phaneuf said they do have one but he admitted it was not working that night. He told the board they’ve had so many problems with the reader they sent it back to the company for repairs. Phaneuf also offered that his servers go through extensive training that includes a 2-3 hour orientation and a five hour class that touch heavily on responsible serving. They also must take and pass an online safe serving class and when they start at the restaurant they must spend three days working with an experienced server for hands on training.”Since we opened on Sept. 20 we’ve served 110,000 patrons at the restaurant and we want to continue to do that,” he added. “This is a topic we constantly cover.”While the board members thanked the Phaneufs for coming in, DiMella said after the hearing that Kosova would be summonsed on OUI charges and would have to appear in court.