Sep 22, 2006  |  By: LOU CHIBBARO JR.  | COMMENTS     

The city’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Sept. 13 suspended the liquor license for the Southeast D.C. gay nightclub Edge-Wet for 45 days and fined the club $3,500 for 12 separate incidents that violate the city’s liquor law.

A four-page charging document says the alleged incidents included two non-fatal stabbings inside the club and several fights inside and on the street outside that involved customers wielding pipes and sticks, the document says. It says the incidents occurred between Oct. 6, 2005 and Jan. 25, 2006.

The document says another incident involved an alleged sexual act between a nude male dancer and a customer, and that the incident was observed and reported by Sgt. Brett Parson, commander of the D.C. police Gay & Lesbian Liaison Unit.

Edge-Wet closed its doors on Sept. 9, becoming the last of eight gay entertainment businesses in the Southeast gay club zone to be displaced due to real estate development associated with the construction of a new baseball stadium.

Owners of the other clubs have said they are searching for new locations but have declined to say whether they have found new properties or when they plan to reopen.

The license suspension for Edge-Wet took effect Sept. 15, according to ABC Board general counsel Fred Musally.

Edge-Wet attorney James O’Day said the club plans to reopen at an as yet to be determined location after the suspension period expires.

Employees said the club was being displaced like the other clubs due to stadium-related development, but said they expected it to stay open until at least Sept. 23. They said they were surprised when it closed on Sept. 9.

Parson, who investigated several of the incidents, said all of the alleged violations occurred in the Edge section of the club. Parson said many of the alleged violations occurred on nights when the Edge clientele consisted mostly of lesbians. He said employees frequently called police to help break up fights.

Edge-Wet operated in a converted warehouse building at 52-56 L St., S.E. The two venues were run separately and had separate entrances but shared the same liquor license. Records with the city’s Alcoholic Beverage Regulation Administration list Capitol Hill Cabaret, Inc. as the owner of the club. Denver, Colo., businessman Martin Chernoff and D.C. businessman Ron Hunt have identified themselves as the principal owners of the company. Chernoff said he is semi-retired and has authorized Hunt to operate the club.

O’Day said Hunt agreed to the 45-day license suspension and fine as part of a settlement with the ABC Board. O’Day said Hunt explained to the board that the problems occurred during a three-month period when new, inexperienced managers were in charge of the Edge.

“Once he was apprised of it, he changed his management and he spent more time there himself,” O’Day said. “So he cleaned out the staff and he’s gotten proven people in there now. And he’ll have a better staff when he reopens. And he will reopen,” O’Day said.

According to the charging document, one of the alleged violations included the admission of a “runaway16-year-old girl” at the Edge after the staff allegedly did not check for identification to determine her age.

The charging document says the club also violated liquor law provisions by failing to take steps to prevent fights at the Edge that led to two separate deaths in locations several miles away from the club.

In one instance, a fight that broke out inside the club between two lesbians prompted one to shoot the other to death after the two drove several miles away to a location in Anacostia, the charging document says. In another incident, the charging document says the club was responsible for failing to prevent a fight on the premises that led to a car chase between two groups of customers. One of the customers died in a crash that resulted from the chase, the charging document says.

Although the Wet section of the club featured male nude dancing as its main form of entertainment, the incident involving alleged sexual contact between a nude dancer and a customer took place at the Edge, during one of the occasional nights when the Edge also provided nude dance entertainment, Parson said.

The charging document states, “On Friday, Nov. 25, 2005, Sgt. Brett Parson of the Metropolitan Police Department was at the establishment investigating a fight outside the establishment on Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005 when he observed a nude dancer making sexual contact with a patron while performing on stage.”

The charging document provides no further details about the alleged sexual contact other than to say the ABC ...