Bar charged in woman's drinking death

A bar in a town southwest of Edmonton has been charged with overserving a customer who later died from alcohol poisoning.

Skip's Bar in Calmar has been charged with violating the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Act by allowing an apparently already drunk person to consume liquor in a licensed premises, the RCMP said Tuesday.

It's the first time the charge has been laid in Alberta in a case involving a death from overconsumption.

On Oct. 7, 2007, emergency crews found Tammy Kobylka, 22, dead at a home in Calmar, about 50 kilometres from Edmonton.

"We were able to determine through our investigation and in assistance with the medical examiner's office that her cause of death was acute ethanol toxicity," Leduc RCMP Const. Deanna Fontaine said Tuesday.

Lynne Kobylka, Tammy's mother, said it was bittersweet when she heard about the charge.

"If nothing else, other bar owners, other people will know that ... it's not right, that you can get charged," she said.

SBH Enterprises Inc., which owns the bar, is scheduled to appear on May 7 in Alberta provincial court in Leduc, just east of Calmar. No one from the bar was available for comment.

If the bar is found guilty, the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission could cancel its liquor licence as well as impose a fine of up to $200,000.