Lamasco liquor license good through January 16; Word hopes to sell sooner
EVANSVILLE — School board member Amy Word will have Lamasco Bar & Grill's liquor license until at least January 16, having received another temporary extension with the goal of selling the place by mid-December.
While she fights a felony criminal charge that accuses her of "maintaining a common nuisance" at the bar, Word seeks to sell Lamasco for slightly more than $1 million. Her criminal case is set for trial on March 4.
Lamasco's liquor license has been at issue for months.
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Six days before the Indiana Alcohol and Tobacco Commission's (ATC) October 3 vote to grant Lamasco a two-week liquor license extension, Word's attorney wrote ATC that she "has several interested buyers now and believes she will have the business and (alcohol) permit under contract in the next 60 to 90 days."
That timeline roughly comports with another letter, also from Indianapolis attorney Alex Intermill, written on August 22 and stating that Word "is seeking to sell the business and permit and hopes to close on the sale and transfer in the next 120 days."
On Oct. 17 ATC approved a second 90-day permit extension for Word, taking it to January 16.
Word has said she will not seek re-election to the Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation school board next year. She did not return phone and text messages for this story.
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The trouble with Lamasco's permit to sell alcohol began on Aug. 8.
The Alcoholic Beverage Board of Vanderburgh County voted — with member Natalie Rascher, Republican candidate for mayor of Evansville, abstaining — to recommend denial of the popular West Franklin Street establishment's liquor license renewal application. Rascher told the Courier & Press she couldn't open her email to review pre-meeting documents.
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According to ATC, the local board stated "that it believed the permit premises had become a public nuisance as defined in (Indiana Administrative Code)." A week later, Indiana ATC took the local board's recommendation to deny renewal of Lamasco's permit.
A week after that, Word's attorney formally requested an administrative appeal of the denial and another extension of Lamasco's liquor license "to allow for the (sale of the business and permit) to close and for the hearing date be scheduled not sooner than mid-December."
The case has not yet been scheduled for an appeal hearing, ATC said this week.
This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Lamasco liquor license good through January 16; Word hopes to sell sooner
