Students testify against Smoke's in hearing

A hearing on last year's Hey Day raid of the popular campus bar, Smokey Joe's was held last week, with testimony by University students who were cited for underage drinking at the bar. The hearing, held at the Philadelphia office of the State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, covered Smoke's owner Paul Ryan's four citations of serving alcohol to minors and allowing minors to frequent a licensed establishment. Ryan faces charges on the Hey Day case, in addition to three other incidents in the past two years. According to James Saylor, assistant counsel to LCE, "We cited for underage drinking approximately 90 patrons [in the four cases]." Most of the minors were students at the University. The case has not yet been decided, Saylor said, and both sides had ten days since last Friday to submit closing arguments in writing to Judge Gerald Goldberg, who presided over the hearing and will render a ruling within two months. Ryan faces a minimum penalty of $1000 if he loses his case, Goldberg said. In making his case, Saylor said he presented about 20 prosecution witnesses, all of whom were cited for underage drinking during one of the four raids. One of the witnesses, a Wharton senior who asked to be identified only as David, said, "I didn't want to testify. I was forced to by a subpoena." David said he originally was not going to show up, despite the subpoena. But David said the prosecutor told his father that he would find a way to get David expelled from the University and arrested if he did not testify. "That's the only reason I showed up," David said. "The students who were [testifying] were down there because they felt absolutely forced." But Saylor denied making any threats. "No one _t the LCE] would ever make a threat like that," he said. "We don't operate that way." Wharton senior "Achmel," another witness said, "We were forced [to testify]. It wasn't like we voluntarily represented the [LCE]." "If I were to pick sides, I would have picked Smoke's side," Achmel added. During the hearing, Saylor said the defense presented the audio-visual system that Ryan uses as a deterrent for minors. In order to enter the bar patrons must state their name while showing their identification to a video camera. But Saylor said the law does not allow for such a system as defense against serving to minors. "It was used [only] in terms of mitigation," Saylor said. "It certainly does not serve as evidence that they were complying to the liquor code." While the witnesses seemed not to like the prosecution, Saylor said he was happy with how they performed. "I do appreciate the cooperation of the students involved in terms of testifying on behalf of the Commonwealth," he said. "[Ryan] has quite a prior history of serving to minors," Saylor added. "It seems to be what Smokey Joe's caters to." David, one of the student witnesses, said Saylor tried to make it look like getting into Smoke's was easy. "But I tried to make Smoke's sound like they card as hard as possible, which they do," David said. David added that his testifying prompted the prosecutor to refer to him as "hostile." "[The LCE] seems to have it our for Smoke's," David said. "They seem to want Smoke's closed." But Saylor said he is not aware of any "special attention" placed by the LCE on Smoke's. Achmel said prosecuting Smoke's will drive up the cases of drinking and driving because students will look to places further from campus to gather. "I don't think any drinking and driving goes along with Smoke's," Achmel said. Ryan declined to comment specifically on the case. "I think it might be inappropriate for any of the direct parties to comment on the case before any of the closing arguments are made," he said. Joseph Ryan, Paul Ryan's attorney and brother, could not be reached for comment. The hearing held last week is separate from the appeal hearing concerning Smoke's loss of a liquor license last November. The date for that hearing has not been set and Ryan continues to sell alcohol pending the ruling of the appeal. Jamie Altman contributed to this story.