1 BEFORE THE MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION
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IN RE: Public Meeting on
September 27, 2002 at the
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Maryland Heights Community Center, 2344 McKelvey Road,
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Maryland Heights, Missouri
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7 BE IT REMEMBERED that the above-entitled matter
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came on for a public meeting at the Maryland Heights
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Community Center, 2344 McKelvey Road, in the City of
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Maryland Heights, State of Missouri, on the 27th day of
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September, 2002, commencing at the hour of 9:00 a.m.
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in the morning of that day, said meeting having been
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called by Chairman Robert Smith of the Missouri Gaming
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Commission pursuant to the issuance of due notice to
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all parties in interest, and the following transcript
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is the transcript of the record made of all proceedings
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had during the course of said meeting.
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CONCANNON & JAEGER ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (314) 421-1000
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1 MISSOURI GAMING COMMISSION MEMBERS
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3 Chairman Robert C. Smith
4 Commissioner J. Joe Adorjan
5 Commissioner Muriel W. Battle
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Commissioner Lynne R.
Nikolaisen
7 Commissioner Floyd Bartch
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CONCANNON & JAEGER ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (314) 421-1000
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1 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
We'll call the meeting to
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order. Can you hear me all
right? The guy sitting in
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the back row, can you hear me okay?
Please raise your
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hand if you can't. Okay,
fine. I'll call the meeting
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to order. Let's call the
roll.
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MS. ANGIE FRANKS: Chairman Smith?
7 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Present.
8 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Nikolaisen?
9 COMMISSIONER NIKOLAISEN: Present.
10 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Battle?
11 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: Present.
12 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Adorjan?
13 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: Present.
14 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Bartch?
15 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: Present.
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CHAIRMAN SMITH: The first item of business
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is consideration of the minutes from July 24, 2002.
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Does anyone have any corrections?
I may have one minor
19 correction on page 40, line six, is there anybody in
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the audience that wants to appear and comment, it says
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we get at this time, and I believe it should be we give
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at this time. So if you can
change get to give, I'd
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appreciate it. Do I have a
motion to approve the
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minutes?
25 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: I so move.
CONCANNON & JAEGER ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (314) 421-1000
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1 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Is there a second?
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COMMISSIONER ADORJAN:
Second.
3 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
All in favor say aye.
4 ALL COMMISSIONERS:
Aye.
5 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Opposed?
6 DIRECTOR KEVIN MULLALLY: Mr. Chairman, the next
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item on the agenda is the consideration of hearing
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officer recommendations, and Hearing Officer Mike Yost
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is here to make the presentation on the first four
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items. Thad McCanse has come
down ill and will not be
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available for items F through H.
12 HEARING OFFICER MIKE YOST: Good morning.
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Resolution 02-069, the petitioner is a William Shumate.
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The proposed discipline against Mr. Shumate was an
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eight-hour suspension. What
happened in this case was
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on July 9th of 2000, Mr. Shumate was part of the team
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working in the hard count room.
His specific role at
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that time in the hard count room, at least at the time,
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was to pick up coins off the floor that I assume had
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fallen down off the machinery.
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he was conducting these duties, the
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members of his hard count team, the other five
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employees, essentially left on their break. They were
24 all wanded out by security personnel. The practice of
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the team at that time was that the team leader would
CONCANNON & JAEGER ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (314) 421-1000
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sign each person's name out as they all left, so they
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weren't individually signing their names. The manager
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was signing their names for them in and out.
4 So essentially, they never realized that
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they left without Mr. Shumate, who continued to stay in
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the room working picking up the coins.
Due to the
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noise and machinery, he didn't realize that the rest of
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the team had left either. About
ten minutes into being
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alone in the room, video surveillance showed, as the
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testimony was, that he basically peeked his head up and
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noticed that no one else was in the room with him.
12 At that time, he really didn't know what to
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do, so he made the decision just to continue on working
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doing what he was doing. Then at
some time later, the
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rest of the team came back from their break, and
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realized that they had left Mr. Shumate in there by
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himself, and the matter was reported to security and
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then later to the Gaming Commission.
19 I realize an eight-hour suspension is
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certainly not the most serious suspension this
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Commission has ever handed down on someone, but I can't
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recommend that it be passed down in this particular
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case. I just felt that Mr.
Shumate was put in a
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terribly bad situation by his co-workers. With friends
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like those, who needs enemies, so to speak.
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1 He was put in
a position where he had just a
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few things he could do. Most of
the things that he
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could do were bad. If he would
have left the count
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room by himself, first of all, the regulations would
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have required him to be wanded out by security, which
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he couldn't have done because nobody was there. So, he
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decided to stay and keep on working.
I'll point out,
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too, a less-trustworthy person could have tried to take
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advantage of their situation being alone in there.
10 What he
really should have done was to call
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for someone to come and be with him down there. But
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given the circumstances as a whole, I'm recommending
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that this body reprimand Mr. Shumate for his decision,
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because he did violate the regulations of the
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Commission, there's no doubt about that, but I just
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don't think that an eight-hour suspension is
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appropriate, given this set of facts.
18 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Commissioner Battle?
19 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: Did he have training
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before he started his duties?
21 HEARING OFFICER YOST: He testified that he
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was not aware that he was not allowed to be there by
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himself. I believe the agent at
the time testified
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that they were made aware of the regulations. So, I
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think that's in dispute. I will
say he had only been
CONCANNON & JAEGER
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on the job for three weeks, at least that particular
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job. So, it's certainly possible
he did not know
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really what he was going to do, so he just decided to
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keep on working.
5 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Is there a record of any
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prior violations on his part?
7 HEARING OFFICER YOST: Not that I'm aware
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of.
9 CHAIRMAN SMITH: Any other questions or
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comments? So, if he left, he
violated the rules, and
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if he stayed there by himself he violated the rules, is
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basically what you're saying, isn't it?
13 HEARING OFFICER YOST: Yes. Obviously, the
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correct choice was to call somebody.
But given the
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whole of the circumstances, I guess, as I wrote in my
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decision, of all of the bad choices that were made that
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morning, his was certainly not the worst of the bad
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choices that were made.
19 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Any other comments? Do we
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have a motion either approving or modifying the
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recommendation?
22 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: I move to approve
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Resolution 02-069.
24 COMMISSIONER NIKOLAISEN: Second.
25 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
I have a motion and a
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second that we approve the finding of the hearing
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officer to be reduced to a reprimand.
Let's call the
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roll.
4 MS. FRANKS:
Chairman Smith?
5 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
In favor.
6 MS.
FRANKS: Commissioner Nikolaisen?
7 COMMISSIONER NIKOLAISEN: In favor.
8 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Battle?
9 COMMISSIONER BATTLE: In favor.
10 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Adorjan?
11 COMMISSIONER ADORJAN: In favor.
12 MS. FRANKS:
Commissioner Bartch?
13 COMMISSIONER BARTCH: In favor.
14 MS. FRANKS:
By your vote, you have adopted
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Resolution Number 02-069.
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HEARING OFFICER
YOST: The next resolution
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is 02-070. Patrick Chan is the
petitioner. The
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proposed discipline of Mr. Chan is a 30-day suspension
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of his license. The facts in
this case were
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undisputed, both by Mr. Chan and the Missouri Gaming
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Commission.
22 What happened in this case was that Mr. Chan
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was the manager of the Harrah's North Star Casino one
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morning, and he received a call that his EMT on duty
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was going to arrive late.
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1 CHAIRMAN SMITH:
Could you please tell me
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what an EMT is?
3 HEARING OFFICER YOST: An EMT is an
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emergency medical technician.
It's a paramedic,
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essentially, who was supposed to be on the boat so that
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if there's a medical emergency, that there's prompt
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medical care.
8 The EMT was caught in traffic and was going
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to be late. Mr. Chan made the
decision that he was
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going to open the boat, despite the fact that his EMT
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was not going to be on board.
His reasoning for that
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was that the Harrah's Mardi Gras Casino, which is
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adjacent to the North Star, had an EMT on duty. In his
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opinion, as a practical matter, there was not a medical
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problem with his decision.
16 The Gaming Commission agent on the boat
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found out that he was planning on opening the boat
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without the EMT, which is in direct violation of
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Commission regulations. They
approached Mr. Chan
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before he opened the boat and told him, if you do this,
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you're going to be in direct violation of the
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Commission rules. Mr. Chan
essentially told them, I'm
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going to open the boat, so you guys do what you have to
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do.
25 He went ahead and opened the boat, and the
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EMT arrived about 25 minutes after the opening. Mr.
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Chan essentially admitted to all these things. His
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defense was essentially a plea for leniency as opposed
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to a factual defense. I have to
say I thought a lot
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about this particular case. A
30-day suspension is
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quite severe. Speaking myself,
if I had to go 30 days
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without income or employment, it would seriously
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financially damage my situation.
I'm sure it will hurt
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Mr. Chan's situation as well.
10 But as I thought about it, a couple of
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things kind of struck me. First of all, a 30-day
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suspension, when you look at what Mr. Chan did, just
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the act itself, you know, to purposely and directly
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violate the Commission rules, I would remind the
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Commission about the licensees that come before you and
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accidently violate the rules, such as a loss limit
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violation, as we have talked about on many occasions,
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just when the situation dictates they didn't do what
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they were supposed to do not by any purpose, but merely
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by accident, those people have gone under a one-week
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suspension.
22 I think when you put it in that context, a
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30-day suspension probably isn't overly harsh in that
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context. But really, as I
thought about it, Mr. Chan
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was a highly intelligent man. He
seemed like a good
CONCANNON & JAEGER ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI (314) 421-1000
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and a decent man. I have no
doubt that the decision he
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made was a calculated and thought-out and reasoned
3 decision. That's really what kind of tipped it for me.
4 Mr. Chan essentially looked at this
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situation and had to make the decision what is going to
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get me in more trouble, if I decide to open the boat
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and violate the Commission rules, or if I don't open
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the boat and then have to answer to my employer as to
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why I didn't open the boat. And clearly, Mr. Chan made
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the decision that he'd rather face the music from the
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Commission than face the music from his employer.
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Really, the motivation
for his decision was
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more troubling for me than the decision itself. The
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other thing was his statement, which I have to say he
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stated repeatedly at the time of the hearing, and that
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was, if I had known I was going to get a 30-day