1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) SS: 2 COUNTY OF L A K E ) 3 4 5 LAKE COUNTY LIQUOR CONTROL COMISSION 6 RE: BLARNEY ISLAND, INC., d/b/a BLARNEY ISLAND 7 27258 West Fox River 8 Antioch, IL 60002 9 10 The above hearing held before Deborah L. 11 Severson, C.S.R., a notary public in and for the 12 County of Lake and State of Illinois; at the Lake 13 County Building, 18 North County Street, Conference 14 Room C, 10th Floor, Waukegan, Illinois, on Monday, 15 September 13, 2010, at the hour of 9:00 a.m. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Reported for DEPOSITION REPORTERS, by 23 Deborah L. Severson, C.S.R. 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 1 (847) 356-6834 1 A P P E A R A N C E S: 2 3 PRESENT: MS. SUZI SCHMIDT, LIQUOR COMMISSIONER MR. BERNARD WYSOCKI, BOARD ATTORNEY 4 MR. KEITH KAISER, LIQUOR INVESTIGATOR MS. LINDA WISCH, BOARD SECRETARY 5 6 ALSO PRESENT: MR. JOHN HALEY, ON BEHALF OF THE 7 OWNER DEPUTY MARCUS PITTL 8 9 10 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 2 (847) 356-6834 1 MR. WYSOCKI: This is in the matter of 2 Blarney Island, doing business as Blarney Island, 3 27258 West Fox River, Antioch. This comes on 4 complaint and notice of hearing. Blarney Island is 5 present. And, John, have you received a copy of the 6 complaint and notice of hearing? 7 MR. HALEY: I did. 8 MR. WYSOCKI: And you understand what you're 9 being charged with? 10 MR. HALEY: I do. 11 MR. WYSOCKI: And are you pleading guilty or 12 not guilty? 13 MR. HALEY: Not guilty. 14 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. You understand that the 15 officer will testify first. You can ask any 16 questions of him and after he's finished then you can 17 go ahead and testify after that. 18 MR. HALEY: I have to make a statement here. 19 I'm not the day-to-day operations guy. I don't even 20 work there during the week. I'm the secretary of the 21 company. Rob Hardman runs the company and he's out 22 of town. So I'm here representing Blarney Island 23 just so you know. 24 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. All those who will be DEPOSITION REPORTERS 3 (847) 356-6834 1 testifying, raise your right hand. 2 (WHEREBY PERSONS WERE SWORN) 3 MR. WYSOCKI: 4 Q. Officer, state your name, please? 5 A. Marcus Pittl, P-I-T-T-L. 6 Q. And you're an officer with the Lake County 7 Marine Unit? 8 A. Yes, sir. 9 Q. And you were so employed on August 8th at 10 approximately 1 A.M.? 11 A. Yes, sir. 12 Q. And prior to that time did you receive a 13 dispatch to go to Blarney Island? 14 A. Yes, sir. 15 Q. And what was the nature of the dispatch? 16 A. It was in reference to a battery that 17 occurred. 18 Q. And when you arrived at Blarney Island, what 19 did you first notice? 20 A. Actually we didn't go to the Island. We 21 went to Fort Apache where we met the victim reference 22 the battery. 23 Q. And that's just an offshoot of -- 24 A. Yes, correct. DEPOSITION REPORTERS 4 (847) 356-6834 1 Q. -- off of Blarney Island? Yes? 2 A. Yes. 3 Q. Okay. And when you arrived there, what 4 happened? 5 A. We met with the complainant who informed us 6 that an unknown male approached her from behind, 7 grabbed her around the waist and started kissing her 8 and she did not know who the individual was. And 9 this actually occurred on the Island. 10 Q. Okay. And were you able to identify who the 11 individual that had grabbed her, who that was? 12 A. Yes, through witness statements we 13 identified who the individual was. 14 Q. And did you have an opportunity to speak 15 with that individual? 16 A. We did. My partner and I did, that's 17 correct. 18 Q. And who was this person? 19 A. My partner? 20 Q. No, the offender. 21 A. Robert Walsh. I'm sorry, not Robert Walsh. 22 Q. Jamie Kick? 23 A. Yes, sir. 24 Q. And in speaking with Mr. Kick what did you DEPOSITION REPORTERS 5 (847) 356-6834 1 say or what did he say to you? 2 A. My partner was the primary one who dealt 3 with Mr. Kick and Jacqueline in this situation. I 4 was there to observe. 5 Q. Okay. 6 A. He admitted that, from what I recall, what I 7 saw he admitted that he kissed her and he saw nothing 8 wrong with it. 9 Q. Did the young lady indicate whether she knew 10 this individual? 11 A. She said she did not know who he was. At 12 first she thought maybe it was her boyfriend and then 13 she quickly realized it wasn't. 14 Q. And did she give permission for him to kiss 15 her? 16 A. No, not that I -- 17 Q. Okay. You said you observed the 18 conversation. Did you observe the condition of 19 sobriety of Mr. Kick? 20 A. He seemed intoxicated based on observations, 21 but we didn't do any field sobrieties on him or 22 anything. 23 Q. And did he indicate that -- how much he had 24 to drink? DEPOSITION REPORTERS 6 (847) 356-6834 1 A. If he did, I don't recall. 2 Q. And the observations that you had, what were 3 the nature of your observations? 4 A. That he just had the glassy over, kind of 5 thick tongued, but other than that I don't really 6 recall. 7 Q. All right. Do you have any questions of 8 him? 9 MR. HALEY: No, not the officer, no. 10 MR. WYSOCKI: Did you want to say anything, 11 John? 12 MR. HALEY: I do. I spoke with Rob Hardman, 13 the president of the company, and he was running the 14 Island that night. The girl in question actually 15 works for us and she dates my nephew. My nephew 16 would have been the boyfriend that she thought it 17 was. 18 She was there waiting for him to get off 19 work and the guy came up from behind her, spun her 20 around, stuck his tongue in her mouth, not just on 21 her neck, I mean it was pretty weird and he didn't 22 think it was any big deal with it. And I think if 23 you read the police report, I think it was, hey, 24 what's the big deal, I just gave her a kiss. And he DEPOSITION REPORTERS 7 (847) 356-6834 1 doesn't realize evidently that's a sexual predator. 2 Anyway I talked to Rob, I said how long 3 was the guy out there and Rob said, you know what, 4 they were with a group of people and they weren't 5 there long at all. Maybe they had one drink. He 6 said it wasn't that busy at the time and the people 7 when they walked on, you try to watch the people as 8 they come on the Island, you know, how intoxicated 9 they are, are they falling down, are they stumbling, 10 the guy passed through security. Of course, there 11 are people that drink, but, you know, are they beyond 12 the limits to where we don't want them as a customer. 13 Evidently this guy passed that and then once he got 14 on the Island, he saw somebody that he liked I guess. 15 He said in the report, from what I remember reading 16 it, that he thought he knew the girl. But evidently 17 he didn't and then it went from there. 18 So that's when, you know, the security 19 grabbed him and Rob Walsh also works for us, he 20 pulled her away, pulled the guy away from him and the 21 security got there and that's when Lake County was 22 called. 23 MR. WYSOCKI: Okay. Thank you. Anything? 24 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: This is a battery? DEPOSITION REPORTERS 8 (847) 356-6834 1 Is this considered a battery? 2 MR. WYSOCKI: Yeah. 3 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Think of all the 4 batteries I would have been involved in in college. 5 Holy Moly. 6 MR. WYSOCKI: Good for you. 7 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: I'm thinking, and 8 maybe I'm wrong, but to me there's so many things 9 that go on that are so absolutely horrendous, I would 10 never even think of calling -- I mean I wouldn't like 11 it, but I would never think about calling the police 12 on something like this. 13 Honest to God I think it's a waste of 14 your time. There's more important things to worry 15 about out there. My opinion. Okay. I'm sorry. 16 MR. WYSOCKI: Thank you. 17 (DELIBERATIONS HELD) 18 COMMISSIONER SCHMIDT: Not guilty. 19 20 21 22 23 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 9 (847) 356-6834 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) SS. 2 COUNTY OF LAKE ) 3 4 I HEREBY CERTIFY that I reported in 5 shorthand the proceedings had in the above-entitled 6 cause, and that the foregoing Report of Proceedings 7 is a true, correct, and complete transcript of my 8 shorthand notes so taken at the time and place set 9 forth. 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 Deborah L. Severson, CSR 084-001777 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 10 (847) 356-6834 1 STATE OF ILLINOIS ) ) SS: 2 COUNTY OF L A K E ) 3 4 5 LAKE COUNTY LIQUOR CONTROL COMISSION 6 RE: BLARNEY ISLAND, INC., d/b/a PORT OF BLARNEY 7 27843 West Grass Lake Road 8 Antioch, IL 60002 9 10 The above hearing held before Deborah L. 11 Severson, C.S.R., a notary public in and for the 12 County of Lake and State of Illinois; at the Lake 13 County Building, 18 North County Street, Conference 14 Room C, 10th Floor, Waukegan, Illinois, on Monday, 15 September 13, 2010, at the hour of 9:15 a.m. 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 Reported for DEPOSITION REPORTERS, by 23 Deborah L. Severson, C.S.R. 24 DEPOSITION REPORTERS 1 (847) 356-6834