For the ones who were online yesterday, catching up on the latest news, you probably saw a post titled "Cowboyz latest (according to their website)". By Sunday early evening, it was pulled by Joe, and I got a phone call from Joe . . . and it wasn't pretty. I felt hurt, ashamed, puzzled, pissed off and crazed.
Joe had questioned my motives, which he has never done before. He felt I had tried to sabotage his reputable sources and truths about Cowboyz Saloon. Joe even asked if I knew the owner or any of his employees (which I don't). As a Berlin resident and an Ocean City business owner, I do NOT know the owner, nor have I EVER been in his establishment. A few emails were thrown to Joe, one in particular stating that a formal apology should be posted due to false information (on the blog) due to what I had posted. For the record, there has been no 'false information' posted on this blog regarding Cowboyz Saloon
Yes, I do need to post a formal apology, to JOE and to THE READERS for NOT COMMENTING ON MY ON POST!!!! I posted this garbage that Cowboyz Saloon has on their website so Joe's readers can see how much their story keeps changing. I assumed the Joe's readers would see through the mountain of lies and stick up for Joe, which many of you have done, but there was a few in the bunch that want to see nothing more than to see Joe and his blog go down in flames.
According the Cowboyz, first it was a "a dangerous gas leak" and would reopen at 4 p.m. today(Friday), according to their website and answering machine (which has been confirmed UNtrue by various sources including the property manager). Then it changed....phone message Cowboyz was closed and the Web site notice stated "Cowboyz has been temporarily closed to bureaucracy beyond our control. More info soon." Fact is, the saloon is still closed.
So, here's their comment on their website again, BUT this time I will be commenting BEFORE posting. I have made their website posting in red, and I have commented in black:
Cowboyz is now closed for the 2009 Season.
(that's funny, I thought they were reopening on Saturday....that was 2 days ago)
Due to unfortunate circumstances Cowboyz will be closed until further notice. All listed violations noted by the Health Dept were corrected within hours, sometimes minutes of the Health Inspection. We respect the county’s decision not to re-inspect the premises in an expedited manner although this is common practice to do so in most of these cases especially on big weekends in OC. This fact is common knowledge in foodservice.
Health inspections are public record and if you choose to look it up you will see that many establishments in Ocean City have similar and in multiple cases much worse violations yet they remain open for business. (with the same violations as yours? Compare apples to apples.) However it is solely at the discretion of the County officials to delay the closure of the premises until proper bureaucratic “protocol” is observed in this case. (Why are you worried about everyone else's violations rather than your own?)
In respect to the news coverage of the story there has only been one side portrayed. (You should have called Joe or commented if you're talking about his blog.) Anyone who was there knows that this was a planned closing and even if it was the most immaculate kitchen in the world it would have been shuttered because that’s what the higher ups wanted to happen. (WOW, Really? A planned closing? Anyone who was there knew it?...did you? What 'higher ups' are you talking about? Names of such 'higher ups'?)Cowboyz did not have a “Dirty” kitchen. We never once operated without hot water which would frankly be impossible. On the morning in question the pilot light on the hot water heater had gone out as it does every now and then. When the health inspector notified us of this fact we simply lit the pilot and corrected the problem within 15 minutes. We were not open yet and there were no employees in the kitchen yet so no one could possibly be aware that the pilot went out. (OK. I can understand that. . . but the question is was there no hot water during both visits from the health inspector, or just the 'planned closing' visit?) In respect to storing meat at 63 degrees there was a faulty cooler which had just been serviced. There were only two items in this entire cooler. We were told by the service company that is was holding at 45 degrees and it has continued to hold at 45 degrees since the day of the inspection. There were no witnesses to the measuring of temperature so we will have to take their word as to the temperature. (You just said a few sentences ago that everyone that was there knew it was a planned closing, so there should have been someone there to witness a temperature check of meat.) When the kitchen staff arrived they discarded the burgers and beef shavings voluntarily and immediately called the service company to look at the cooler. Every other cooler and freezer in the entire restaurant was holding at correct temperature as well. As for the dirty floor issue. Cowboyz was open for business the night before. Cowboyz has a cleaning service which arrives daily approximately one hour before opening and mops and sweeps all floors and cleans both bathrooms including checking the hand soap and hand towels as well as toilet paper holders. (Didn't you just state that the kitchen is not a 'dirty' kitchen a few sentences ago? Does this cleaning service clean the kitchen as well? You said they mop and clean all floors.) The service was not able to do this on the day in question as the health inspector was already making his evaluation and would not let management comment on the inspection which is defiantly not the norm. (Were you there to comment? Did you tell the inspector about your cleaning service that comes? Did you show receipts of the cooler in question just being serviced?) The food listed on the report as being stored in unapproved containers was a 1 LB bag of flour bought at Food Lion which was still in the food lion bag on the shelf. Cowboyz is an open air restaurant and anyone who lives in Ocean City has dealt with fruit flies at this time of year. (Yes, everyone, no matter how clean, has fruit flies this time of year. I know what I do in my home and business, but I don't know what restaurants do to get them out of the kitchen.) The entire bar is cleaned at the end and beginning of every day with 50 ppm bleach solution. (You just said the hired cleaning crew comes one hour prior to opening....so your barkeep cleans with bleach after closing and before opening, even though you have a cleaning crew you hire to clean?) In reference to dust on the ceiling air ducts, look around next time you are in a restaurant. Unless its cleaned daily there’s a good chance there’s gonna be a little dust on them. Not an excuse just a fact.(Yes, that's true....in some facilities.)
The only violation which would normally shut a restaurant down would be the water heater which was fixed in minutes, in fact before the inspector left (so why aren't you open now if it was fixed before he left?) and lastly and most obviously improper refrigeration is of course a potential hazard but anyone in the business knows that it happens with hot kitchens with old equipment.(old equipment? age shouldn't matter as long as it's serviced and maintained properly. If you question your equipment, don't use it.) We would not and have never served anything which has become potentially hazardous to any customer at any time, never, ever.
Cowboyz Saloon has not had one single complaint filed with the Worcester Health Department since opening for business . This is also public record. This is not the case for numerous current operators of foodservice facilities in the County and in Ocean City. This fact is undisputable record. (Again, this is not about other restaurants, this is about your restaurant)
Health Inspections are public record. A person could walk into the local Health Dept. office on St. Martin Neck road and request current reports on any restaurant in Ocean City. Feel free to do this and compare what you find with what was reported on Cowboyz and you will see that most of these violations are commonplace and occur regularly in foodservice. Again this is not meant to be an excuse, however it is a fact which is a rarity it seems. (Rarity? I'm not in the food service business, and I know 3-5 places off the top of my head that closed due to health code violations in the West OC/OC area just in the past 2 years. Again, no need to point to no one but yourself, two wrongs don't make a right.)
Molly Hatchet Tickets purchased online were instantly refunded thru Paypal. Any tickets or VIP Tables purchased offline can be refunded at the place of purchase. As of today 90% of the tickets have been fully refunded. (Good job) Due to legal matters no further comments can be made as to the continued closure or the peculiar timing of this whole ludicrous situation. (why are you seeing this as ludicrous? What legal matters do you have pending that you cannot comment? What are you suing for, 'bad timing' on a so-called 'planned closure'?)
A formal statement will be released on Tuesday from our legal counsel
concerning any other allegations as well as our future plans for Cowboyz.
Press Inquiries can be made at this
address
On a personal note Cowboyz Staff and Management would like to thank those of you who have stuck by us in this difficult time. There are always going to be anonymous people out there who think they know the whole story and hide behind a computer screen on forums and blogs acting like they are experts. Really they are just a lot of sad people with nothing better to do than jump on the innuendo bandwagon. (I thought you said this was public record?)This is still America as far as we know, and generally you are supposed to innocent until proven guilty not vice versa. We will have our day in court and our right to face our accusers one day. The ridiculous rumors that are being spread are very typical of a small town like Ocean City and anyone who’s every been the victim of this knows what we mean.So next time you have the urge to perpetuate a falsity consider the source you are relying on and question the motives. We all know everything you read in the papers and online is the absolute truth. (Really....um, what? Re-read that last sentence, it may be lacking a word or two...or were you just being sarcastic?)
That being said everyone is entitled their respective opinions. (Opinions, facts, public records)
Thanks for your continued support!
-Cowboyz Management.Nothing about the underage drinking? Nothing about the public pornos?
. . . . . There you have it folks. That's how I feel about it.
Again, I am very sorry for hastily posting without consideration of the nay-sayers trying to poke holes in Joe's earlier postings, and for some readers that thought I was defending Cowboyz Saloon. I will give credit where credit is due . . . and I have Joe's back 120% on this one. I have nothing but respect for Joe. I agree that everyone is entitled to their opinion, regardless of how crazy it may be. There have been times that I have not agreed with Joe, but this time it's not the case at all.
Readers, it was wrong of me to assume that everyone would know why I posted as I did....even Joe did not know why I posted in such fashion without personally commenting. I assumed the post would stand on its own without my comments. This one, however, was my mistake. No one can read anyone's mind or perception of such posting without commenting. Live and learn!
