High Point, N.C., Plans for ‘Sanctions’ in Cases of Improper Liquor Sales

By Pat Kimbrough, High Point Enterprise, N.C.

Dec. 1–HIGH POINT — State officials plan to recommend “sanctions” against individuals involved in improper liquor sales at an ABC store and accounting practices approved by the High Point ABC Board.

The state ABC Commission will decide what action, if any, will be taken against the men, said Commission Administrator Mike Herring.

He and Fred Gregory, the commission’s chief counsel, met with board members Gilbert Gates, Charles McNeil and Fred Swartzberg, along with High Point ABC Board General Manager George Humble, on Wednesday in Raleigh. Herring said he and Gregory plan to recommend that sanctions be imposed on McNeil, Swartzberg “and/or” Humble may face sanctions of some kind for their alleged involvement, he said, but he would not elaborate. “What we found requires action by the (commission),” Herring said.

The N.C. Alcohol Law Enforcement Division last summer found that Humble instructed employees at the ABC store at 201 W. Fairfield Road to sell individual minibottles of liquor that were intended to be sold only with larger bottles.

The sales were not authorized, according to Herring.

According to the ALE report of the investigation, records of the sales were voided from the store’s cash register each day, and the money was not reported as income.

Humble kept the money from the sales in a bag and oversaw its use, according to the report. Swartzberg and McNeil knew about the practice, which continued for about four years, according to the report.

Last month, the High Point City Council, which appoints board members, decided that no action was necessary against the board.

The Guilford County District Attorney’s Office declined to seek criminal charges against anyone in connection with the sales.

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