CoCoMos

In what has become as routine as approving the minutes of the last meeting, the Board of Selectmen again denied a request by Will Drew, owner of CoCoMo's, to offer exotic (near nude) dancing at the Kimball Road restaurant and tavern.

This time, unlike the four previous occasions, Drew did not appear before the board.

Past motions to grant the permit have failed when the board deadlocked, with Dennis Doten voting in favor, Kinney O'Rourke against and chairwoman Alice Boucher abstaining. Yesterday Boucher joined O'Rourke in voting "no" after explaining that she had been asked to recuse herself on this issue in favor of a former selectmen who would vote either "yes" or "no." She declined to identify who made this suggestion, referring only to "citizens." Boucher said, "I will vote and I will vote no."

In the past Drew has insisted that Kinney O'Rourke, the co-owner of the Black Cat Cafe in Laconia who has steadfastly voted to deny the permits, should refrain from voting because he holds a liquor license and operates a competing business. Yesterday O'Rourke read a prepared statement challenging Drew's charges.

In his statement O'Rourke explained that he had none of the relationships with Drew — either as an abutter, employer, employee, or relative — that would create a conflict of interest under state law. Nor, he insisted, did he have a monetary interest in the issue, which did not affect his person or his business.

He also rejected Drew's suggestions that he had "prejudged" his requests, denying them out of a "moral objection to the adult entertainment he proposes." Instead, he said that he has consistently based his vote on Drew's association with the King's Grant Inn and his business relationship with the former licensee, who violated state liquor laws and was convicted of interfering with an investigation, a felony.

(Darlene Sherman operated what is now CoCoMo's as the Kings Grant Inn until her liquor license was revoked last year. She had received a number of exotic dancing permits from the selectmen. Drew owns the property.)

O'Rourke said he based his objections on evidence that "there is a strong likelihood that the licensee (applicant) and the proposed performers may not otherwise be relied upon to comply fully with all state, federal and local laws, ordinances and rules," which reflected the language of the town's adult entertainment policy.