LICENSE DEPENDS ON BAR'S RECORD

The renewal of a liquor license in Cape Girardeau is generally a matter of routine. It is a formality the city and the alcohol retailer or bar owner must go through each year.

Most of the time the renewal process goes through without any problems or questions, but that is not always the case.

Last year Chances Sports Bar, 823 S. Kingshighway, could not get a liquor license from the city because there were problems at the bar when it was Peppy's Sports Bar. The former manager, David Armour, bought the bar and renamed it Chances.

City officials were not convinced Armour would solve the problems of assaults in the bar.

So Armour went to the state to get a resort license to sell alcohol. Under the law, if a place sells at least $75,000 in sales and at least $50,000 of that is non-alcoholic, the bar can qualify for the resort license.

Cover charges can qualify as non-alcoholic sales.

The state recently revoked Chances resort license, and there will be an appeal hearing Thursday.

And now Jeremiah's, 127 N. Water, has been issued a six-month probationary license because of problems at the bar. There have been assaults, and on several occasions, Jeremiah's did not report the incidents to police.

The six-month license is rare, say city officials. Normally, the city renews a liquor license for a year.

The city council sees all of the incident reports and uses that information to decide about liquor license renewals. Councilman Frank Stoffregen was hesitant to even vote for a six-month renewal for Jeremiah's after seeing 11 assaults listed.

Because the council puts so much emphasis on the number of incidents, there is the temptation to not report them.

"It comes out as a catch-22," said city councilman Tom Neumeyer. "If you report, then we see all of those incidents. But it is the law to report."

Police Chief Rick Hetzel said there is no double standard when it comes to reporting assaults in a bar.

"I don't quite look at it like that because the law is they must report," Hetzel said. "There is no, 'if you do report.'"

Hetzel said he understands there are fights in bars, but pub owners must report those incidents.

Hetzel said the police are willing to work with places and teach the employees how to handle situations that could lead to fights among customers.

"Our goal is to help them stay in business and provide service in a safe environment," Hetzel said. "They don't want problems any more than we do."

In the case of Jeremiah's, owner Don Ganim said there were a couple of incidents he thought were resolved and did not think to call the police. Ganim said he should have called.

Most of the problems occurred during the Wednesday college night at the pub. Ganim said the situation is under control now, but it is serious to be in this position because his livelihood's at stake.

In six months, the city council will re-examine Jeremiah's and decide whether to renew the license.

Hetzel said when he makes recommendations about the renewal of liquor licenses, he looks at the volume of calls, the number of unreported incidents and how cooperative the place is when the police are called.

Ganim said he has a good working relationship with the police and is confident there won't be any problems at the end of the six months.

"We don't have fights here," Ganim said. "You bump into somebody, which you do when it's crowded and it's 'oh excuse, excuse me.' I think people in the community know that."