In a major story by John Boyle and Mark Barrett in the Asheville Citizen-Times reports:
In a damning, 125-page report, Alcohol Law Enforcement agency investigator Alan Fields said he found evidence that [ABC Board General Manager Curtis] Canty also had pressured liquor salesmen into providing cases of free liquor for his son’s wedding, approved $40,000 in liquor purchases that turned out to be fraudulent and made questionable purchases on his board-issued credit card. ...
State law passed in 1996 prohibits liquor companies from lending or giving any ABC retailer or board employee “money, service, equipment, furniture, fixtures or any other thing of value.”
Canty routinely ignored those rules, according to the ALE report, enjoying free tickets to Charlotte Panthers’ football games, lavish meals at the expense of liquor companies and soliciting free liquor for charity events.
Local ABC boards and their employees have been cautioned repeatedly over the years about acceptable and unacceptable actions, said Agnes Stevens, spokeswoman for the state ABC Commission. ...
The N.C. General Assembly last year passed a reform law that tightened existing rules on ABC officials accepting gifts and other perks — regulations that had essentially been stretched and then ignored over the years. ...
District Attorney Ron Moore declined to prosecute Canty or other ABC Board employees who accepted perks, despite three pages of criminal violations the ALE agent listed. The report found ABC Board employees violated 12 state statutes, including 59 counts of employees accepting gifts, with most of those attributed to Canty. ...
Members of Asheville ABC’s governing board are adamant that they were not aware of the depth of the problems with Canty and that proper controls are now in place. ...Read the full article
In a damning, 125-page report, Alcohol Law Enforcement agency investigator Alan Fields said he found evidence that [ABC Board General Manager Curtis] Canty also had pressured liquor salesmen into providing cases of free liquor for his son’s wedding, approved $40,000 in liquor purchases that turned out to be fraudulent and made questionable purchases on his board-issued credit card. ...
State law passed in 1996 prohibits liquor companies from lending or giving any ABC retailer or board employee “money, service, equipment, furniture, fixtures or any other thing of value.”
Canty routinely ignored those rules, according to the ALE report, enjoying free tickets to Charlotte Panthers’ football games, lavish meals at the expense of liquor companies and soliciting free liquor for charity events.
Local ABC boards and their employees have been cautioned repeatedly over the years about acceptable and unacceptable actions, said Agnes Stevens, spokeswoman for the state ABC Commission. ...
The N.C. General Assembly last year passed a reform law that tightened existing rules on ABC officials accepting gifts and other perks — regulations that had essentially been stretched and then ignored over the years. ...
District Attorney Ron Moore declined to prosecute Canty or other ABC Board employees who accepted perks, despite three pages of criminal violations the ALE agent listed. The report found ABC Board employees violated 12 state statutes, including 59 counts of employees accepting gifts, with most of those attributed to Canty. ...
Members of Asheville ABC’s governing board are adamant that they were not aware of the depth of the problems with Canty and that proper controls are now in place. ...Read the full article
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The Board that was paid to do oversight on Canty failed the community. Yet they were paid to do oversight a total of $1500.00 per meeting (five Board Members at $300.00 for each meeting X 10 meetings.)
They are either incompetent or complicit. either way, they must resign.
By D. Dial
10/02/2011