Hotel Baker Found in Violation of Liquor Code

The Hotel Baker on Monday was found to be in violation of the city’s liquor code in a Sept. 9, 2013 incident in which a patron left the historic hotel while in possession of an alcoholic beverage.

The hotel and its owner, Joe Salas, now must wait seven to 10 days to learn the penalty.

Mayor Raymond Rogina, acting as St. Charles’ liquor commissioner, praised Salas and his attorney, Joe Klein, for acknowledging a violation had occurred and for presenting mitigating factors that could play a role in how light the penalty might be.

Klein told members of the St. Charles Liquor Control Commission, which met Monday afternoon, that the hotel had used its system of security cameras to track how the mistake had occurred and will use the incident in further training of hotel staff to avoid a repeat of the mistake.

Salas told the commission that the hotel usually is fully staffed on weekends, but not so heavily during the week, which contributed to the problem. Complicating the issue was that staffers believed the patron who left with a drink was heading to his room inside the hotel. Instead, the individual left the premises with an open, dark-colored bottle in hand.

The incident occurred at 12:09 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 5.