Thursday, March 18, 2010

Golf club faces sweeping alcohol charges

BRACEBRIDGE, Ont.—A golf club in Ontario’s cottage country, along with 16 of its directors and employees, is facing 34 charges related to a fatal crash that killed three young men last summer.
The three—Tyler Mulcahy, 20, Cory Mintz, 20, and Kourosh Totonchian, 19, all of Toronto—died after leaving the Lake Joseph Club in Muskoka Lakes Township when their car veered off the road and plunged into a river.

A fourth passenger survived the July 3 crash, which one investigating officer called the worst he had ever seen.
Police have said alcohol and speed were definite factors in the incident.
Working with the Ontario Alcohol and Gaming Commission, OPP in Bracebridge laid the Liquor Licence Act charges against Clublink Corp., which runs Lake Joseph Club, following a lengthy investigation.
Cst. Maureen Tilson said yesterday the charges relate to allowing drunkenness on licensed premises and supplying liquor to an apparently intoxicated person. Among those charged are a beverage manager and two bartenders.
“[The number of charges is] not particularly common, [but] it’s certainly not unprecedented,” Tilson said. “It’s happened before, and that’s why the legislation is there.”
In the months following the crash, Mulcahy’s father, Tim, embarked on a crusade to toughen provincial drinking laws. He said the four friends paid for 31 drinks before they left the restaurant in the early evening.
Mulcahy has said he believes his son, who was driving, still would be alive if he hadn’t been drinking or speeding that night. He was out of the country yesterday and unavailable for comment.
Meanwhile, Andrew Murie, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada, said the organization hopes the charges serve as a wake-up call.
“A lot of alcohol was consumed over a long period of time, so there should have been, at some point, some intervention somewhere,” he said.
“Everybody has a responsibility to ask some questions.”
Tilson said the maximum penalty for a corporation, if convicted, is a $250,000 fine; an individual would be fined a maximum $100,000 or be imprisoned up to a year, or both.
Scott Davidson, Clublink’s vice-president of corporate operations, who is among those charged, declined to comment.
All those charged are to appear in court Jan. 27.

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