BAR HARBOR, Maine — A local bar owner is facing multiple alcohol violations after police investigated an assault complaint at his business and found out a stripper was performing there, according to police.
Police Chief Nathan Young said Friday that local ordinances prohibit striptease entertainment in Bar Harbor.
When police responded Sunday night to an assault complaint at the Fantail Pub on Pleasant Street, they found out a stripper was performing at the bar, which had covered its windows so the performance was not visible from outside. Young said the stripper had been hired to entertain at a birthday party being held at the bar.
The chief said he issued three violations on Thursday to Douglas Smith, 56, owner of the pub. The violations were issued because Smith did not have approval on his liquor license to allow dancing at his business, because nudity is not allowed at local businesses and because he did not have a separate special amusement license for live entertainment at his business.
“He was operating beyond the scope of his [liquor] license,” Young said Friday.
The chief said he wrote out the citations after consulting with state liquor enforcement officials. He said, for the meantime, Smith is allowed to continue selling alcohol and to engage in other legal, licensed activities at the pub.
Young said police believe a stripper has been hired to perform at the bar on at least one other occasion.
The striptease act was discovered by police after Megan Tibbetts, 25, of Bar Harbor called local police around 11 p.m. Sunday to report she had been assaulted by a bartender at the pub. Upon investigation, police determined that staff at the bar had stopped serving Tibbetts and removed her from the property because they believed she was overly intoxicated.
When responding officers appeared to be supporting the pub staff in their decision to remove Tibbetts, Tibbetts apparently became upset, according to police. She subsequently was arrested on a charge of obstructing government administration, according to police reports.
Follow BDN reporter Bill Trotter on Twitter at @billtrotter.
please will you leave the strippers alone, they are good girls just trying to make a living and they make me happy!
The violations were issued because Smith did not have approval on his
liquor license to allow dancing at his business, because nudity is not
allowed at local businesses and because he did not have a separate
special amusement license for live entertainment at his business.
Is the failure to have a dancing endorsement really a legitimate change here?
The article said that strip tease entertainment was illegal in Bar Harbor.
Reminds me of the movie “Footloose”.
Yeah, there is alot of that in this state. Remember when Easton was a dry town, but a person could go just a few feet over the town line to buy booze. Alot of people from the town did.
Hmmm “Fantail” would make a good name for a strip….ooops I mean gentlemans club.
Was it a stripper show or a bar exam?
or a stripper exam or a bar show?
This article could be a big problem for those that forgot to tell their wives about the stripper.
empty
Cant have strippers unless you pay the tax first.
Thats what it is all about.
He was operating beyond his license……..he needed the ‘anything goes’ box checked. Big fee for that payable to the Bar Harbor PD. Cash only. No checks please.
It is legal in Maine for women to go topless, but it is against the law to dance.
Have I got that right ?
It might be legal to go topless in Maine but most of them can’t fight the law of gravity.
You ask why the is economy so bad, our captors are the reason.
Ah, hyperbolic comment. These kinds of services need to be properly licensed and regulated. If they wanted a stripper for a party, fine, then have the party in a private home and not on a licensed premise.
wow.. welcome to maine. OPEN FOR BUSINESS. only if you pay the tax.
WOO! That’s gonna cost him ALOT of singles.
That’s why you have private party with a cover, I thought?
That was what I was thinking too.
Interesting side note: According to Megan Tibbetts facebook page, she used to work at this very same pub.
Probably the last stripper, now disgruntled ex employee
She ended up being arrested so a bit of a “tit for tat” outcome.
Fantail Pub
Bartender/Waitress · Mar 2010 to Sep 2011 · Bar Harbor, Maine
If you want a drink, I’ll make it for you. If you want some food, I’ll get it for you. If you want me to dance on the bar, buy me a shot.
was this a private party or was all welcome?
So many flatlanders say they moved here to get themselves and children away from perversions and they brought it with them. Gambling is here and sexual entertainment will follow. After all we have lots of drinking and drugs and unemployment.
Can you hear the flushing sound as we go down the toilet?
If you have any info on when the sexual entertainment will get here please share.
Ha-ha, tell you what do the math, how long did it take to go from slot machines to a Casino? I suspect about that long.
Did you notice the “sin” in Ca-sin-o
Starting on the green beer alittle early. Try waiting until noon.
I don’t drink but thanks for the advice.
Little late on comback since it’s now 3:30 and you posted about 11 minutes ago.
Maybe it was the green beer you drank yesterday that has you in such a frisky mood.
Really? A stripper causes that kind of ruckus? Just because one woman was pissed off because she was intoxicated, why didn’t they leave the stripper alone? Was she hurting someone? Did she cause the other lady to get drunk? If it was someone’s birthday and they hired the stripper how is that the bar owner’s fault? This is silly.
Sorry, but the law is the law. The police don’t make the laws. They are sworn to enforce them.
A basic liquor license doesn’t allow for this. If they wanted to have a stripper for a birthday party, it should have been a party in a private home, not on a licensed premise to try to milk the situation for liquor sales. There. Solved.
Sounds like because the bar failed to pay, he is going to be paying now. He is in trouble for not paying the “tax”(fee) to have live entertainment. More and more useless fee’s to pay for what? Next your going to have to pay to listen to the radio, t.v etc. It does happen to industrialized worlds. I live in one a tax man comes and inspects to see if you own a t.v and you have to pay a special tax. Keep sitting by and letting our rights be taken away. Showing off a body is within your rights. We are born Naked. Don’t look if you don’t like the human body in it’s natural form.
Sorry pal, but there needs to be regulations on these sorts of things with proper licensure for what services are to be offered and allowed on premises selling and allowing consumption of liquor. This isn’t the wild wild west.
Bangor is becoming more & more like the wild west.
Yes, we need more licensing and regulations, not less. The fact that the bar owner allowed this to happen without that extra piece of paper is just disgusting. The girl who was stripping should have been registered and printed at the local P.D.. She should also be registered with the state and federal governments as well. Then we could add some more law enforcement personnel to go around and check to see if all the t’s are crossed and all the I’s are dotted on the official paperwork. If they find ANY irregularities, they should levy huge fines to all parties concerned. If this doesn’t nail moral lifts to people’s feet and generate more revenue, then we need to up the penalties. Even if it means hiring even more law enforcement officers to ensure that every dime is collected. Then we need to pass more laws of this kind to create more jobs in law enforcement. Nailing illegal strippers could be the way to create jobs in Maine! lol.
But Your Honor, She wasn’t a Stripper. We found her after she just got lost in the freezing woods for hours and got soaking wet and was so cold that she was suffering from “Hypothermia” and we brought her into the tavern only to get her warm and in her confusion and delirium from the “Hypothermia she thought that she was hot instead of cold and she just started tearing her clothes off (Hypothermia victims do that) and there was no way we could stop her. She was only dancing to warm up. And that’s the truth.
BDN – please define “overly intoxicated” . Is that more intoxicated than being intoxicated?
Overly intoxicated is the exact opposite of Underly intoxicated or overly sober.
Oh the cops JUST wanted to see the Stripper in action!
i thought it was legal to go topless in maine and if that is true she is not a stripper she was just topless god love her i am sure everyone else did
license for this license for that, anyone who has ever tried to run a business knows what royal headache it is trying to comply with all the govt. regulations.