GOVERNMENT: TASTE LOSES LICENSE FOR A WEEK

The Taste Lounge's state liquor license has been suspended for seven days, effective Monday -- the latest event in the ongoing conflict between regulatory authorities and what has become Cape Girardeau's most heavily policed bar.

The Missouri Department of Public Safety, Division of Liquor Control cited The Taste for two counts of failure to report an illegal or violent act, and two counts of failure to close.

The long-term effects of the suspension on bar owner Michael Pryor's probationary city liquor license will be up to the Cape Girardeau City Council, said city attorney Eric Cunningham. Pryor will, of course, be barred from alcohol sales during the span of the suspension, but there are no city regulations specifying the effect of a state suspension on a city license, he said.

"It's totally up to the city council," Cunningham said.

"We're reviewing what to do with their license in December," said Cape Girardeau Mayor Al Spradling III. "Obviously, this development is something we cannot take lightly. But it's hard to presuppose what the council might do at this point."

On probation

The Cape Girardeau City Council issued The Taste a probationary six-month liquor license in June after Police Chief Rick Hetzel asked the council to revoke the bar's license. Hetzel said a high number of violations make the bar a disproportionate drain on police resources.

City Councilman Tom Neumeyer said the council will take the state's action into consideration when it decides the fate of Pryor's liquor license in December. Also, input from neighborhood residents will be a factor, said Neumeyer, as well as input from the police and input from Pryor.

But clearly The Taste is taking up a lot of police time, the councilman said.

"We can't afford to have officers basically providing private security to any one bar," said Neumeyer. "And the police spend more time at that bar than any other."

Calls to Pryor were not returned by Friday evening.

The Cape Girardeau Police Department declined to comment on the issue until Monday, citing that Hetzel was away for the Thanksgiving holiday.

Regular patrol

Cape Girardeau police night shift officers regularly "close The Taste" as they say -- that is, patrol cars are routinely diverted to the neighborhood to keep an eye on the sometimes-volatile crowd spilling onto the 400-block of Good Hope at closing time.

Pryor contends that he's spent thousands of dollars improving the bar and the surrounding land. Last spring, he purchased three lots near the bar, and demolished a condemned house used to shield illegal gambling and drug deals from police patrols. He has also erected fencing alongside the bar, he said, to keep troublemakers from hiding in the darkness of the building.

In addition to The Taste, the Rhodes 101 Stop on Kingshighway received a three-day suspension to its state liquor license by the state Division of Liquor Control for the sale of alcohol to a minor, effective Monday. Frisco's Bar in Chaffee, Mo. -- about 17 miles southwest of Cape Girardeau -- received a five-day suspension for sale to an intoxicated person, effective Monday.