Two elected officials are taking a special interest in an incident Halloween night at Tully’s of Fallston that resulted in a man being stabbed, six people arrested, three of whom were indicted, and police fearing for their lives.

Tully’s licensees, slammed with six charges by the Harford County Liquor Board, were before the board last Wednesday for a show cause hearing, and both a representative for Harford Del. J.B. Jennings and Harford County Councilman Joe Woods were at the hearing.

Jennings and Woods represent the Fallston area, which includes the Tully’s establishment. Appearances by elected officials, or their aides, at liquor board hearings are extremely rare.

“All I am trying to do is answer constituents’ questions,” Jennings said Tuesday. “This is a liquor board issue, and I have absolutely no jurisdiction in it. My office’s involvement has strictly been keeping people informed.”

After four hours of testimony last week, the liquor board decided to reconvene the Tully’s hearing today (Wednesday) at 3 p.m. for the remaining testimony from witnesses and closing arguments.

Three police officers and Tully’s nightclub manager testified last Wednesday. Joseph Snee, the lawyer who represents Tully’s, will call his remaining witnesses today.

Rich Reinhardt II, legislative director for Jennings attended the Tully’s hearing last week, and is also expected to attend today’s hearing. Woods said he will be unable to attend today because of a prior engagement.

Jennings and Woods were also at the Greater Fallston Association meeting Thursday evening where the subject of Tully’s came up.

At that meeting, Jennings said he would like to start investigating whether the liquor board’s restrictions against rule breakers are effective.

“We are in no way trying to get into the liquor board’s business,” he reiterated Tuesday, adding that since the Tully’s incident his office has been inundated with phone calls from constituents wanting to know whether Tully’s will remain open and keep its liquor license.

Jennings said he does not have an opinion on what he wants to happen with Tully’s.

“I’ll leave it to the liquor board to decide what is best,” he said. “I just want to make sure what is done is best for the community.”

Jennings said the Tully’s location at Routes 1 and 152 has been a problem for the community for years.

“The big thing is, I am not getting involved with the liquor board’s business,” he said again.

Future legislation

Woods said he is gathering information from various agencies to see whether the county should enact a padlock law.

A padlock law, according to Woods, would allow the Harford County Sheriff to immediately close an establishment that was deemed to be out of control or had non-compliant property owners.

Woods, also the chief of the Fallstson Volunteer Fire and Ambulance Co., said the bill would also protect emergency responders when they arrive on a scene.

“Ironically, this was something I was working on before the Tully’s incident,” Woods said, adding that if the county had this bill in place the night of the Tully’s incident, the sheriff could have shut down the establishment.

Woods said he is still getting input from the liquor board and sheriff, but he said both parties expressed they would be interested in such legislation in the county.

“It’s extremely early in the process,” Woods said, adding he isn’t sure it’s something the county has the authority to enact. In most circumstances, laws dealing with liquor licenses and the liquor board’s powers are controlled by the Maryland General Assembly, not the county council.

If Woods decides to move forward with legislation, he said he wants to make sure the padlock bill is not too vague, but also does not infringe on an establishment’s right to due process.

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