After weeklong closure for ignoring covid restrictions, Tin Lizzy bar set to reopen

After a weeklong shutdown for defying Gov. Tom Wolf’s temporary restrictions on indoor dining during a surge in covid cases, the Tin Lizzy Tap Room and Restaurant in Youngstown will reopen 7 a.m. Tuesday.

“A trooper from liquor control was in here (Monday) and gave us the OK to reopen,” owner John “Buck” Pawlosky said.

Pawlosky, 75, who has owned the bar and restaurant for 40 years, had defied a Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture temporary order in December that the business close for allowing indoor dining to continue. Those statewide temporary restrictions were lifted Jan. 4. In December, Pawlosky, in response to critics, said that state officials would have to “arrest” him before he’d stop serving. On Monday, he confirmed it almost came to that on Jan. 7.

“Five state troopers from the Liquor Control Board came in here last Tuesday and told me they were temporarily suspending my liquor license for failing to follow the state order,” Pawlosky said.

In September, the bar was closed for two weeks after the state police found customers being served alcohol without food and tables too close to promote social distancing, both violations of a previous Wolf order aiming to slow the spread of the coronavirus, according to state records.

Once the latest greenlight came to reopen, Pawlosky removed formal notices of the temporary liquor license suspension hanging on the door entrances. In their place, he hung new signs asking customers to comply with covid-19 regulations.

“If you are not wearing a mask, we will respectively assume you have a medical condition that prevents you from wearing a mask,” the sign states.

“NOTICE: Anyone entering this business must wear a face mask and maintain 6 ft. or separation from other customers,” it states below, although much smaller.

“We’ll see how it goes, but someone will probably turn me in for something anyhow,” Pawlosky said.

Sgt. Daniel Masura Jr., commander of the state police liquor control board’s Pittsburgh office, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Pawlosky continues to maintain that people “have a right to earn a living.”

“I left it up to the employees, and they took a vote (last year) that they want to continue to work and that’s what we did,” he said.

Kelly Bolish, who manages Pawlosky’s basement bar, The Rathskeller, defended Pawlosky. She was at the bar Monday helping him with preparations to reopen.

“Buck has run a well-oiled business for 40 years and he has enough money and could walk away from it if he wanted and retire. But he’s chosen to stand up for his employees to make sure we can pay our bills and put food on our tables,” Bolish said.

She also said that Pawlosky has taken “undeserved criticism” from the public on social media for ignoring the coronavirus restrictions in light of the recent death of one of his employees.

Zachary J. Starrett, 33, of Latrobe died Dec. 23 at UPMC Presbyterian hospital in Pittsburgh after battling covid-­related health complications for several weeks. Starrett managed Flappers, the upstairs bar at the Tin Lizzy.

He tested positive for covid-19 in October and then contracted a heart infection.

“(Buck’s) not insensitive to the loss of our co-worker. … He was just as hurt as the rest of us. To suggest that Buck does not care about his employees is just wrong and distasteful,” she said.

Pawlosky said he is glad that 20-25 people will be able to return to work.

“These people don’t want to collect unemployment … they want to work, and I don’t know how anyone can penalize someone for that,” he said.