Murph's closed for week

Bar shut down after two violations involving minors Students hoping to drink a highball after the football team's victory over the Princeton Tigers were left in the cold when they tried to enter Murphy's Tavern at 43rd and Spruce streets Saturday. The tavern, a favorite among undergraduate students, was ordered to stay closed between November 4 and 12 because of two State Police citations issued last year for selling alcohol to minors, Liquor Control Board Spokeswoman Donna Pinkham said yesterday. The bar was also ordered to pay a $1,500 fine, Pinkham said. Bar owners Joseph Murphy and James Murphy could not be reached for comment, but Joseph Murphy was heard on WXPN-FM Saturday during the football game promising that the bar would reopen soon. The first infraction, which carried a five-day suspension and the $1,500 fine, occurred on July 16 when police caught bartenders serving three minors, Pinkham said. The police citation for December 10 says the bar served alcohol to two minors and that minors frequent it, she added. Harrisburg Administrative Law Judge Tania E. Wright tried the two cases together on June 22. Pinkham said selling to minors is considered a very serious offense. If it happens enough, she added, a bar can be classified as a "nuisance bar" and eventually lose its liquor license. Nearly 200 bars have lost their licenses through this process since the policy was implemented in 1990, she added. The Liquor Control Board, which licenses and regulates bars, will evaluate Murphy's Tavern again when its license expires in October 1994, Pinkham said. "Two citations are not to be taken lightly," she said. "Another in a short period of time would put them in greater risk of losing their license." Palladium co-owner Roger Harmon, whose bar – located at 36th Street and Locust Walk – was raided by Liquor Control Enforcement officials last November, said he didn't know about what had happened until he heard it on WXPN. "I'm sure he's devastated," Harmon said last night. "You try hard, but students want to drink and they go to great lengths to drink. I don't know anyone who didn't drink when they were under 21." Five underage drinkers were cited at the Palladium last November, and Harmon said he has taken measures to ensure that it won't happen again. All bartenders and most bouncers have undergone TIPS training, which teaches them how to detect and deal with underage and excessive drinkers. He said the bar and restaurant has spent a lot of time and money training and talking with police about ways to avoid potentially disastrous situations. "It seems like it has made a difference," he said. "We do the best we can." Murphy's Tavern is expected to re-open this Friday night.

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