Police chief says not if he can help it

Shawn Kemp, a 32 year-old insurance agent and bar owner from Dansville, appeared at the Brockport Village Board, November 6, to let officials know he is applying to the state Alcohol Beverage Control board to re-open the Northbound Junction as a sports bar. Kemp is part owner of the Vital Spot, a sports bar near the SUNY Geneseo campus.

Northbound Junction’s alcohol license has been revoked for two years because of violations of the under age drinking law. According to Brockport attorney Roy Heise, the revocation applies to the property. Kemp acknowledged that fact, but said he was working on an appeal to the ABC board to allow him to open the bar prior to the revocation expiration.

"Unless the board tells me something different," Police Chief Gary Zimmer said at the board meeting, "I will do everything I can to put a stop to this."

Zimmer went on to explain to Kemp and the board, "Shakers (another closed Brockport bar) tried to re-open during its two year revocation. We worked with the ABC board to prevent it."

Besides the violations of the underage drinking law, both bars had been the scenes of numerous problems for the Brockport police department, according to Zimmer, from public drunkenness to fights and acts of vandalism at neighboring properties.