No late-sign-up fine for stadium manager, alcohol enforcer says

War Memorial Stadium Manager Ron Salley will not be penalized for failing to register as a new manager in a timely fashion with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, an agency spokesman said Tuesday.

Salley took the helm of the Little Rock stadium in September after the resignation of former manager Jerry Cohen last August. According to Alcoholic Beverage Control regulations, the division should have been notified within five days of Cohen’s last day of employment and within five days of Salley’s hiring.

No registration applications were filed until May 29 — eight months after Salley was named as the stadium manager, according to documents released under a Freedom of Information Act request by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

“The delay was an unintended oversight,” said Meg Matthews, a spokesman for Arkansas State Parks. “However, we are now in good standing with ABC.”

The stadium has been under the control of the Department of Parks and Tourism since Gov. Asa Hutchinson signed legislation — now Act 269 of 2017 — immediately merging the free-standing War Memorial Stadium Commission into the department.

Matthews added that when Cohen resigned, the department requested that Shea Lewis be placed on the alcohol permit as interim manager. The ABC rejected Lewis because he lived in Hot Springs, which by law disqualifies him from managing a Little Rock alcohol permit.

“We continued to work on this situation during this transition period,” Matthews said.

When asked why the stadium had not been cited for the violation, state Department of Finance and Administration spokesman Scott Hardin said that nobody had complained or brought it to the division’s attention.

“While ABC conducts full investigations into each application for a license (making on-site visits, confirming every detail of the process is complete, etc.), we don’t have the resources to conduct full investigations into each permit’s managerial status and must rely on an issue like this being brought to our attention,” Hardin said.

The stadium, which opened in 1948, has a seating capacity of 54,000 and hosts such events as the occasional University of Arkansas Razorback football game as well as high school football games. The facility has also seen car shows, soccer games, marching bands and concerts by the Rolling Stones, the Eagles and Elton John.

The large-event center — which is closed between events — has not had any violations cited by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, Hardin said.

“The manager is our point of contact when conducting on-site visits or simply checking in with a phone call,” Hardin said. “The reason War Memorial was not on our radar is this is a facility that fully complies with ABC regulations. Had we noticed the delay, a simple warning would have been issued, advising them to submit the application. No action will be taken as we view this issue as resolved. War Memorial submitted the application and it was recently approved.”

The penalties levied by the agency for violations such as this are varied. The business in violation can be charged a fine and is subject to permit probation, suspension or revocation.

In the past two months, several other establishments have been penalized for the same infraction of failing to submit a change-of-manager application in a timely fashion.

An Exxon in Osceola was fined $100 and placed on 30 days probation. Permittee Rachel Wright was given 30 days to submit an acceptable change of manager application or the permit would be suspended.

Christine Cox of the Outpost Mart in Subiaco, Antonio Sellers of Love’s Travel Stop in Blytheville and Ebony Jiner of Gas Plus-Dollarway in Pine Bluff received the same penalty and stipulation.

Satnarayan Murthy of Super Galleria on Asher Avenue in Little Rock was fined $200 and placed on 30 days probation for not filing a change of manager application within the required time frame as well as not having signed server-awareness forms on file.