City: No fine over veterans fundraiser despite viral claim

AUGUSTA, Maine – Officials say Maine’s capital city has been the target of misguided furor after a restaurant owner posted a widely viewed video erroneously claiming that she was being fined for hosting a fundraiser for veterans.

In a Facebook video viewed more than 1 million times, Laura Benedict tearfully says her Augusta restaurant, The Red Barn, is being fined $200 over a noise complaint related to the 2016 charity event. The money was used to help send veterans on a trip to Washington, D.C.

City officials tell the Kennebec Journal (http://bit.ly/2v3sjBr ) that she was sent a proposed consent agreement relating to a different event held a few days earlier and that no fine has yet been put in place.

Benedict posted a message acknowledging her mistake but said she is still outraged.

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This story has been corrected to show that the event the restaurant was fined for happened a few days before the veterans event, not a few days after.

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Information from: Kennebec Journal, http://www.kjonline.com/