LIVERMORE FALLS – Police say a bar owner was out of compliance with conditions the board set for license renewals after a barred patron was at the Riverview Pub Sunday.

However, bar owner Wes Bowen said Tuesday he disagrees with police comments made at Monday’s selectmen’s meeting. Bowen said the patron was barred for 30 days on June 28, after a first offense, and was allowed back in after that time expired.

Lt. Thomas Gould disputed comments made by Bowen to the Sun Journal.

Gould told selectmen Monday that the bar had been doing great with compliance with conditions the board set but recently police have been busier with more complaints, including verbal disagreements for bar-related incidents.

Until recently, Gould said, things have been relatively calm there.

Gould said police responded to the bar on June 28 for an assault complaint involving a patron. Police received information that that patron was banned from the bar for 90 days from June 28 to Sept. 28 and again received information the patron was at the bar Sunday.

He has a bartender’s statement to police, Gould said, that states the patron was barred for the 90-day time period.

Gould told selectmen in April during a hearing on renewal for the pub’s liquor license, special amusement, pool table and coin operated amusement permits that police were called to the bar 37 times in the past year, with many of the calls within the last five weeks for fights and assaults. He also said police didn’t have the manpower to continue to respond to bar-related incidents.

A man had been found unconscious and bleeding from his face in front of the town office, just a few feet from the bar in April. Police believed the person had been assaulted after leaving the bar.

Selectmen approved licenses with a list of conditions attached to permits for everything but the liquor license because the state issues that. Bowen has to adhere to the conditions or the permits could be revoked.

Bowen also worked with police to develop the list, which included continuing to enforce a list of individuals barred from the premises.

If any patrons were involved in a fight, they would be barred for 90 days, according to the list presented to selectmen back in April.

Bowen said Tuesday that the bartender in June initially told the patron that he could be barred for up to 90 days. But after talking with the bartender, Bowen said, it was the person’s first offense and he should be barred for 30 days and was off the barred list when he was at the bar Sunday.

“I feel we were in compliance,” Bowen said. “We had barred the patron for 30 days.”

He also disputes police being called for more complaints recently.

Bowen said he spoke to Town Manager Martin Puckett five or six days ago and Puckett told him he was doing a good job of addressing the earlier situation.

Puckett was out of town Tuesday and unavailable for comment.

Bowen said there has been a lack of communication between all parties.

Gould plans to submit a formal report to selectmen before the next meeting, he said, which will include the bartender’s statement to police.