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Sharkeez Owner Says Bar's Popularity Makes it a Target
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The owner of the popular Huntington Beach watering hole Baja Sharkeez says his business is being targeted by authorities and citizens' groups, according to the Independent. A recent reportlinked 72 DUI arrests in the space of 22 months of drivers who told the arresting officers they had been drinking at Sharkeez. However, Sharkeez' owner Ron Newman says "the numbers can't be linked directly to Sharkeez."Newman believes that the popularity of the Huntington Beach location is drawing excess attention to the goings-on there, and that "police officers are usually stationed outside his restaurant in Huntington Beach waiting to arrest patrons."
The owner says that it's possible those motorists had drinks at other places after being at Sharkeez, or perhaps did not distinguish that they had been at the Newport Beach location. Newman insists they do not serve anyone who is "obviously," or "overly" intoxicated, but if they can tell a patron has had too much, they will cut them off.
There are a total of four Baja Sharkeez locations: Huntington Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Newport Beach. Newman told the Independent: "We have a perfect record inside the operation."
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