It takes a special kind of guy to wear a detective’s badge, especially at an outfit like the Maui County Department of Liquor Control. You’ve got to be smart, tough and take no guff from anyone. But you’ve also got to be detached, because at any moment fate can step in and turn your whole world upside down.
LC chief of inspections Richard Isaacs knows all about that. On the afternoon of June 2, 2005, Isaacs responded to a report of a drunk who’d just bought a 12-pack of Budweiser at the Hawai’i Liquor Superstore in Kahului.
At first it looked like a routine call, but Isaacs quickly realized it was much more. Isaacs had only been interviewing store manager Donna Marzoeki a few minutes when his open-and-shut case blew wide open.
“This writer then received from MARZOEKI a copy of what appeared to be a hand written work schedule with first names of employees showing start and ending of shifts from 05/30/05 to 06/05/05,” wrote Isaacs in his June 2, 2005 report, which included a copy of the schedule in question.
Isaacs saw plenty of first names on the time sheet, but no last names. Clearly, something was up. Where were the last names? The department needed the employees’ last names.
Sure, they had all the names downtown, but the law is the law. Isaacs gave Marzoeki another shot at coughing up the proper time sheet.
“This writer asked MARZOEKI if there is anything other than the work schedule that is used as a time sheet[,] which MARZOEKI confirmed that is all there is,” Isaacs wrote. “This writer then advised MARZOEKI that RULE 08-101-70(f) requires a legal first name and a surname of all employees on duty and the time entries to be made at the time the employee reports for duty and again when the employees goes [sic] off duty.”
Isaacs had them nailed. Or did he? When it came time for the LC to prosecute Hawai’i Liquor Superstore, the department pursued two charges of serving a drunk on the indictment but dropped the 70(f) violation.
Guess fate has its own time sheet.
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