With an unusual vote, the county liquor board revoked the package goods license held by a longtime sandwich shop in Towson for selling beer to high school students.

"I've been here for 20 years, and I've never seen them do that," said Jerry Kilduff, deputy administrator and chief inspector for the Board of Liquor License Commissioners.

By law, license holders cannot legally sell or furnish liquor to anyone younger than 21.

The three-member board voted to revoke the license, effective immediately, after a show-cause hearing Aug. 18 to determine why The Real Thing, a sandwich shop on York Road in central Towson, should not lose its license.

On Aug. 19, shop owner Harcharan Marwah, of Reisterstown, referred questions to his attorney, David Mister, of Timonium, who did not return a call for comment by late morning Aug. 20.

"Underage drinking is a problem in general, but it's usually restricted to college-age kids," said Chairman Thomas Minkin about the board's decision. "In this situation, this guy was the outlet of choice for high school students."

Marwah was warned by a police officer in May about rumors alleging he was selling to minors, Minkin said.

In addition, an unusually high number of police and parents attended the hearing.

"You could determine the sense of community outrage," Minkin said.

Revoking a license, considering the current economic situation, was something "you never do lightly," he said.

But in this case, "the raw, bare facts demanded that the license be revoked," said Minkin, who also said that Marwah and Mister did not contest information presented in police reports.

Marwah was in business for 20 years before he was granted a Class A license in September 2004 that allows customers to buy liquor and take it off the premises.

Until the hearing, The Real Thing had no record of violations, according to liquor board files.

In June, two teenagers bought 12 cans of beer from the shop that were wrapped in paper used to wrap submarine sandwiches, according to police.

On July 17, a teenager from Phoenix drove to the store with two friends from Towson and Lutherville, all three 16 at the time, and bought a case of beer, which Marwah personally put in the trunk of the car, according to the Phoenix student's account in the police report.

Police subsequently stopped the car and charged the teenage driver for underage possession of alcohol, according to the report.

The teenager told police that he had bought beer from the shop at least 10 times and that he knows "many juveniles/minors that have been getting alcohol from The Real Thing this way for a long time," according to the July 17 report.

Teenagers said the shop was known among students at Towson-area high schools, including Loch Raven High School and Loyola Blakefield, as a place where they could buy beer, according to police reports.

Before the Aug. 18 hearing, the teenager from Phoenix and four other teenagers were granted immunity from prosecution by the State's Attorney's office in Towson in exchange for their testimony, according to letters sent to the teenagers by the State's Attorney's office.

Although none have lost their licenses, several other package stores and restaurant/bars in the Towson-Parkville area have recently been fined or monitored by the board for serving minors, according to board ruling.

Minkin credited the work of the Baltimore County Combat Underage Drinking Coalition, which presented the board with information about the damage done by underage drinking. The coalition include representatives from county and police departments, the liquor board, the State's Attorney's office, Goucher College and Towson University, among others.

user comments (1)

user canton13 says...

Shouldn't they need actual evidence, not just someone's word to revoke a license?
I can understand if a undercover officer purchased alcohol.

Liqour stores and bars should take notice. YOUR licenses could be revoked with no more than hearsay evidence.

Posted 2:14 PM, 08.28.08

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