CITY TO HOLD LIQUOR LICENSE HEARING FOR TASTE LOUNGE

The complaints in and around the 400 block of Good Hope Street range from large crowds gathering on city streets until the wee hours of the morning, broken beer bottles littering yards and sidewalks, fights, assaults and drug possession.

Finding the exact cause of the problem is like finding a needle in a haystack. But city officials have narrowed the search enough to consider denying a liquor license to Cape Girardeau's only rhythm and blues nightclub.

The situation at the Taste Lounge, 402 Good Hope St., has gotten so out of hand that police officers working in the area say they had no other choice but to request that something be done. So they followed the chain of command until the request went before the Cape Girardeau City Council.

The council will hold a public hearing tonight at 7:30 p.m. at City Hall, 401 Independence, to consider denying a liquor license for the Taste. Tonight's hearing comes nearly two months after the Cape Girardeau police chief first requested that the city council consider revoking the liquor license.

The council delayed any revocation action until June, hoping for more time to consider the matter. Moving the hearing to June only provides an extra few weeks reprieve since liquor licenses must be renewed each July.

Denying the license would not automatically put the Taste out of business. It would only prevent the club from selling liquor.

Mayor Al Spradling III said that holding a hearing will be good in the sense that both sides will be aired. While the owner has made "some progress to straighten out his problems," the biggest portion "still emanates around the Taste."

Differing opinions

Last week, the club's owner, Michael Pryor submitted a liquor license renewal that requests continuance of a license for beer by the drink and retail liquor by the drink.

Police Chief Rick Hetzel said in a letter to the council, that in view of the continued problems and the types of incidents, he recommends that the license be denied.

Pryor has said that revoking or denying his liquor license won't solve the problem. "My business is not perfect, but it's not out of control like the chief is trying to lead people to believe," he said earlier.

Pryor doesn't think it reasonable to hold him accountable for incidents that occurred near his business but not inside it. He shouldn't be to blame for things that happened to people in the street, he said.

But the Missouri Supreme Court recently ruled that victims have the right to sue bar owners when patrons were involved in DWI accidents. "Whether it's fair or not, they do have that responsibility for the patron," Hetzel said.

It wouldn't be too big of a leap to make a similar claim when fights break out or people are assaulted near the Taste, he added.

Not calm enough

Although the situation along Good Hope Street has gotten better in recent years, it's not nearly as calm as it should be for residents in that neighborhood. "There used to be a lot more activity in a larger area and we have reduced that," Hetzel said.

Officers have worked through Operation Safe Streets to target high crime areas where drugs were being sold. A neighborhood watch program began along South Ellis Street and people are getting involved in community programs.

Yet police continue to see an increase in the number of calls received in the 400 block of Good Hope Street. Many of the problems stem from the Taste Lounge where large crowds gather either inside or along a three-block area near the club.

Some people, who either have been banned from the bar or aren't old enough to enter then congregate on the street, sitting on or inside cars, playing music and talking with friends.

Large crowds, sometimes upwards of 150 people, gather in the club's tiny building on Thursday and Saturday nights; Friday has a much smaller crowd. Adding alcohol only aggravates the situation. "You expect periodic problems, that's the nature of the business," Hetzel said.

But no one expects such severe problems. Since last year, police have handled 64 calls ranging from peace disturbances to assaults. An incident June 11 lead to a riot with 150 people gathered outside; several people in the crowd yelled profanities and threw rocks at police. Several officers were injured.

Other licenses denied

But denying the liquor license isn't retaliation for the riot or any bias against south Cape's community. Other licenses have been denied or bars put on probation in recent years when problems arose there.

Jeremiah's, a downtown bar, was put on six months of probation last year for its problems with unruly crowds and fights. Another bar, Peppy's, was put on probation for six months and eventually closed in 1998. The club's manager attempted to re-open under a new name, but his license was denied by the council.

The issue isn't about the Taste Lounge, but one of public safety. "How long do we permit it to be out of control?" Hetzel said. "It's dangerous for the people on the streets and the officers who respond."

Even some of the officers working in the southern quadrant of the city have mixed feelings. They understand that Taste patrons aren't always to blame when fights break out or people litter or disturb the peace, but the bar continues to attract the crowds.

"I wish I had the answer," said patrolman P.R. Kesterson, an officer assigned to the south Cape neighborhoods. "I know people who frequent the club and they are good people."

But it isn't fair that most of his shift on patrol each Thursday or Saturday is spent in an eight-block area around the Taste when there are other neighborhoods that also need patrols, Kesterson said.

No simple answer

Since the area is mostly residential, many of the patrons live close by and walk to the club. That adds to the problem, Kesterson says. Club patrons move from the Taste after closing up to Morgan Oak and Sprigg streets to Don's Store 24, where they stay for another hour or more in and around the store.

Loitering is the biggest problem, but if police arrested everyone for loitering, "they'd say we were picking on them," said Paul Tipler, also a south Cape patrolman.

If the bar were to relocate, many of the people from the neighborhoods wouldn't walk far and the crowds would diminish, Tipler said.

"Black people need someplace to go; they need a club," said Tipler. "I don't know the answer is."

Hetzel said the solution isn't concentrating his forces in south Cape Girardeau and leaving the rest of the city unprotected.

The majority of the officers working when the bar closes head to the area so they can prevent fights or be close when calls come in. "Residents of the city should be concerned when the nearest car is 10 minutes away," Hetzel said.

As the bar closed early Friday morning, five police officers parked in an alleyway across the street and stood outside their vehicles waiting for the crowd to disperse. The officers carried pepper spray, a video camera and flashlights.

One or two headed up to Morgan Oak and Sprigg streets as the crowd dispersed. The rest followed shortly and waited in a parking lot across from Don's Store 24.

No fights ensued. Things have been relatively calm lately, the officers say, partly because they know about the hearing tonight and what it might mean to the club and neighborhood.

People know that officers standing across the street aren't there to cause trouble, Tipler said. "We don't mean any harm; we are a benefit to both sides."

People who have problems will talk to the officers they know; and having the same officers in the area means that people get to know them, he said.

"They know we aren't messing with them," he said. But if officers weren't present and walking the streets as often "they would be reluctant to talk to us."

There isn't an easy solution to the problem around the Taste Lounge, and Hetzel said he's not "trying to take away a business' livelihood, but I don't want it to be an area where we ultimately have a tragedy."