OWNER FACING TRIAL KEEPS LIQUOR LICENSE

The owner of the Foodtown Super Market will keep his liquor license, at
least until a jury decides whether he was responsible for the 42 cases of
stolen whiskey found in his store's basement.

The Utilities and Licenses Committee recommended Tuesday that the grocer's
license be renewed for one year, pending the outcome of the criminal case
against him. Tareq Hamed, who has owned the store for three years, is
scheduled to be tried May 11 on a charge of receiving stolen property in a
criminal case that dates to January 1997.

Police discovered the cache of Crown Royal locked in a storage room at
Foodtown, 6608 W. Fond du Lac Ave., while investigating the theft of the
top-shelf whiskey from Capitol-Husting Co. Inc., 12001 W. Carmen Ave.

Workers at the liquor distributor admitted stealing the whiskey and selling
it to a man at Foodtown. One of the workers told aldermen on the licensing
panel that Hamed himself paid for the whiskey with $8,000 he removed from
the store safe.

But Hamed denied any knowledge of the alleged transaction and has
maintained that he does not know how the liquor wound up in his basement.

Last month, the licensing panel voted to deny the renewal of Hamed's
license, but the full Common Council didn't agree and sent the issue back
to the committee. Aldermen feared Hamed would sue the city if he lost his
license but was acquitted of the felony charge.