Bar owner’s assault trial to open Alleged brawls among reasons Newport shut down Lucky’s

NEWPORT – The assault trial of Paul LaChance of St. Albans, owner of the now-closed Lucky’s Tavern in Newport, will begin today in Penobscot County Superior Court.

LaChance is accused of assaulting patrons at the hot spot, which closed in July after the state upheld the local selectmen’s decision not to renew the bar’s liquor license.

During a hearing on the bar’s license held April 14, testimony was graphic regarding the alleged assaults.

Todd Whitaker of Hermon told the appeals board that he and two co-workers had stopped at the bar after work on Jan. 26 for dinner.

Whitaker testified that he was preparing to leave when LaChance confronted him, punched him, pushed him and “sprayed Mace in my face.” He also said one of LaChance’s employees, Brian Craigue, and LaChance repeatedly kicked him as he lay on the floor.

“I had carpet burns on my face,” he testified.

Whitaker said he was dragged outside and kicked and sprayed a second time.

“It was a free-for-all,” Whitaker testified. He said that before the alleged attack, he witnessed LaChance drinking.

“He appeared intoxicated, as well as his employees,” Whitaker testified.

At the same hearing, police and other town officials told of dozens of incidents involving excessive alcohol consumption at the bar, brawls and fights.

It took the Liquor Licensing Division of the Maine Department of Public Safety nine weeks to review the testimony provided before it upheld the town’s denial.

Beyond the fighting, the state ruled that just two of the 10 drunken driving arrests stemming from Lucky’s would have been enough for Newport to prove its case.

After the state’s ruling, Newport Town Manager James Ricker said, “Enough is enough. In the times that we live in, it is neither responsible nor right to turn loose on the public people that are three to four times over the legal limit.”