City council approves most liquor license applications

By A.K. Dugan, Lebanon Express writer

It's not the bars that downtown business owners want to get rid of. It's the public drunkenness, fights, broken windows, public urination, vomit and feces on the ground and buildings, and back-alley drug deals.

That's the message Lebanon City Councilors got at May 14 hearings on liquor license applications and renewals. Most renewals were handled as one but a few businesses were singled out for individual decisions.

Nearly 40 renewals of restaurants, stores and bars that sell alcoholic beverages for on-premise or off-premise consumption were endorsed in one vote. They included two downtown bars - Duffy's Irish Pub and Merlin's Bar and Grill. Those applications went on to the Oregon Liquor Control Commission (OLCC) for final action.

The Council also endorsed a new liquor license for Pueblo Viejo, a new restaurant going into The Plaza; a change of ownership application for Mama Linda's, which has changed hands from Linda and Charles Borg to Bob & Chris Enterprises, Inc., owned by Bob and Chris Kahn; and a new license for Dottie's Grill House.

Police Chief Mike Healy recommended a denial for Dottie's Grill House because one of three owners listed on the license application, Harold Rodney Geil, had four DUII convictions between 1976 and 1992. The council voted for the license after another of the business owners, Nicolle Paulette Sprague said she had known Geil for 15 years since he married her mother and had never seen him drink an alcoholic beverage. Geil is not involved in day-to-day management of Dottie's.

The Council recommended non-renewal for three businesses: Linn Lanes, Sherman Street Bar & Grill and Starlite Tavern.

The non-renewal vote on Linn Lanes was based on a request from Fire Marshall Mark Wilson, who sent a letter listing fire code violations. Five violations have been remedied, but nine have not. Those not corrected included various electrical hazards and keeping up with annual inspections of fire alarm and detection systems.

Wilson said in his letter that he would recommend approval once all violations have been corrected.

Police Chief Mike Healy suggested the city recommend denial of liquor licenses for both Sherman Street Bar & Grill and Starlite Tavern.

Healy said there is a "substantial history here of non-compliance" on the part of the Sherman Street business.

"Over the last 15 months there has been a great deal of activity at this establishment that required a police presence and investigation. Among these incidents, there have been approximately 34 fights and/or assaults that have required police investigation," he said in a memo that was presented to the council.

According to a log of police calls to the bar over that period, incidents ranged from thefts and slashed tires to the fights and assaults.

He noted that OLCC personnel have taken enforcement actions on the owner, VSI Enterprises LLC, for a number of liquor law violations, including that employees did not verify the age of a 17-year-old who later was involved in a DUII crash.

OLCC inspectors discovered some violations while working undercover in Lebanon at the request of Lebanon police.

Wilson also recommended no renewal for Sherman Street Bar.

The Starlite Tavern application was officially for a new license because the owner, BET Corp., had let the old one expire and continued to operate for about eight months after.

Healy said in a memo that the city was not notified that the Starlite had no liquor license. When he discovered it, he requested that OLCC close the business. That happened in March 2008.

In the past 15 months, police received 50 "serious calls" for service. Of 33 fights and/or domestic disturbances, 19 were after 2 a.m. All the other downtown bars close at 2 p.m. and the Starlite at 2:30 p.m. Patrons from other bars went to the Starlite for the last half hour, Healy said.

Police logs for incidents involving the Starlite ranged from dogs tied up in front and falls in the bar to a male dragging a female north from the bar and a man soliciting women for sex, as well as fights and assaults.

Attorney Joe Phillips, representing BET Corp., said the owner for many years was Ernestine Smith, 92, and she apparently misplaced the license renewal in 2007. Different family members plan to run the bar in the future. He said the bar will close at 2 p.m. if it gets its license back, and noted that many of the calls for police came from bar employees.

"The Starlite is not doing crime, people are," he said.

Phillips said that drunks come from other bars too, and any problems in the past four months are not from the Starlite because it has been closed.

Peter Richard, president of Partners for Progress, the downtown association, read several letters from downtown business owners opposing renewal of liquor licenses for Sherman Street Bar & Grill and Starlite Tavern. He said many downtown employees are offended by customers of the bars, female employees are uneasy about working at night and theater patrons are afraid to stand in line where drunks are coming in and out.

Several other business owners also testified against liquor licenses for Sherman Street Bar and Starlite. Richard and others said they do not object to having bars downtown, but want the owners to obey liquor laws and improve their businesses to appeal to a different clientele.

Final decisions on liquor license renewals and applications are made by the OLCC. The city's votes are advisory.