"When police disclosed that the wrong-way driver who is accused of killing a young Connecticut College student earlier this month had been drinking at Mohegan Sun's Ultra 88, the news might not have surprised some people familiar with the nightclub's history.

Ultra 88 is one of three clubs at Mohegan Sun operated by Boston nightclub mogul Patrick Lyons. The other two are Dubliner and Lucky's Lounge.

In the seven years Lyons has been running his clubs here his company has paid a total of $18,000 in fines from 2002 to 2004 for Connecticut liquor law violations. In 2003 he agreed to fire one of the club managers to resolve a Liquor Control Commission complaint.

Police have been asked to respond to reports of disturbances at the clubs and five people have been arrested there on assault charges in recent years.

In one of these scuffles, Matt Light, the 300-pound tackle for the New England Patriots, allegedly punched a club host who said he was trying to restore order on the dance floor. The host claimed Light punched him numerous times in the face, breaking his nose, when he came to the rescue of a patron whom the football player had pinned against a column."

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David Collins: Mohegan Clubs have history of liquor violations (The New London Day 3/27)