POLICE SAY 100-150 CHILDREN SERVED ALCOHOL, MARIJUANA
Underage Party At City Bar

More than 100 children, some as young as 12, were allowed to pay a few extra
dollars to smoke pot in the "VIP lounge" of a Charleston bar while drinking
at a private birthday party.

Inspectors with the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration met bar
owner James Poindexter when he opened the Indigo Lounge for business about
11 p.m. Monday and yanked his license. ABCA alleges the bar allowed
attendees of the Sept. 22 party - all middle and high school students - to
drink alcoholic beverages and smoke marijuana during the event.

"It is outrageous," said Gregory Skinner, deputy ABCA commissioner.

Witnesses told investigators between 100 and 150 children attended the party
at the 1531 Washington St. W. bar. Skinner said four high school students -
the oldest being 17 - had rented the establishment for the event.

Children allegedly paid $5 to get in the door and were sold and served
drinks, Skinner said.

In addition, they could allegedly pay an additional $5 to $15 to gain entry
to the VIP lounge, where investigators say marijuana was smoked.

"We have several statements where the children called it the VIP lounge,"
Skinner said.

School officials, who had heard rumors about it, alerted ABCA inspectors to
the party. Skinner would not say what schools the students attended, though
he said investigators had so far found the partiers go to only one high
school and one middle school.

The bar is located in the attendance area for Capital High and Stonewall
Middle schools.

The investigation was hampered by the age of those attending, locating them
and getting them to answer questions, Skinner said. But when questioned,
their statements were "all consistent with each other," he said.

"This is one of the worst I've ever seen," said ABCA Commissioner Tom
Keeley, who has revoked several establishments' license since taking office.

One mother told inspectors she found her 14-year-old daughter vomiting in a
trashcan at the bar when she came to pick her up after the party. Skinner
said investigators have spoken with no parents who were aware that alcohol
and marijuana would be served at the event.

"They know now," he said.

Poindexter will have a hearing on the charges before the ABCA within 30
days. "It's our intention to ask the hearing examiner to revoke his license
permanently," Skinner said.

The bar, which was formerly located on Florida Street, will not reopen
before the hearing.

"Any bar that allows children to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana is
repugnant to the community, state and the law," Skinner said. "The ABCA will
aggressively work to revoke the license of any bar allowing such
reprehensible activities."

It's not the first scrape with the law for the bar. "[Poindexter's] had some
underage violations in the past," Skinner said.

There have also been other problems. In one incident, a Charleston police
officer was hit in the head by a beer bottle thrown by a man who ran into
the bar, Detective R.E. Westfall said. The bar locked its doors and refused
to allow the officer to pursue his attacker.

Calls to the bar were not answered Tuesday. A telephone listing for
Poindexter could not be located.