PEPPY'S OWNER FILES FOR BANKRUPTCY, BLAMES CITY

The owner of a Cape Girardeau nightclub says the city's decision not to renew his liquor license has forced him into bankruptcy.

DeWayne Casey, the owner of Peppy's Sports Bar at 823 S. Kingshighway, filed for bankruptcy last week.

"I had no choice but to file bankruptcy," said Casey.

The Cape Girardeau City Council voted in December not to renew his liquor license at Peppy's.

Police Chief Rick Hetzel recommended the license be denied because his officers had made too many calls to the bar.

The license expired at midnight Dec. 31.

"This came up right at the holidays. We're getting a two-week notice on it," Casey said. "New Year's Eve is your biggest night of the year in the bar business."

And on Tuesday night, the City Council voted to forward action on his re-application for a liquor license because there were too few votes.

Councilmen Richard Eggimann and Melvin Gateley were absent from the meeting, and Mayor Al Spradling would have had to abstain for financial reasons.

An associate in Spradling's law firm is handling a civil suit against Casey.

That would have left only three votes -- J.J. Williamson, Melvin Kasten and Tom Neumeyer -- and four are required for action.

"So it's been postponed for two weeks. Conveniently," Casey said.

Hetzel said Wednesday that if he had been called on to make a recommendation at Tuesday night's council meeting, nothing would have changed.

"I haven't seen anything that would cause me to change my recommendation to the council," he said. "There's nothing that's occurred that would have led me to believe that those conditions would have been remedied."

Without a liquor license, business has dropped off dramatically.

The nightclub has been holding "under 21" nights on Fridays and Saturdays for the last few weeks.

"But that's not going too good, either," Casey said.

The delay in acting on his request for a new license will be expensive, Casey said.

"We were in hopes that we could get our license back and get back in business and satisfy our creditors," he said. "Now we've got another two weeks waiting for the council to reconvene again."

Peppy's opened in April 1996.

In June of last year, the bar was issued a six-month probationary liquor license because of the number of police calls.

Hetzel said at the time that Peppy's posed a threat to the community.

And in December, Hetzel said police had been called to the bar 23 times since the probationary license was issued -- including one incident in which several patrons were allegedly assaulted by bouncers and another incident in which a patron was allegedly shocked with an electrical device by a bouncer.

Casey said Wednesday that Hetzel's count is misleading, and said bar employees only called the police four times to report problems, including a fight, a domestic dispute and an incident in which a firearm was discharged on the edge of the parking lot by non-patrons.

"We fired all the bouncers back in July when we were put on probation," he said. "We don't even have bouncers now. We have done everything we thought was possible. There's been no problems out there."

Among the incidents listed by the police was a case of a minor in possession of alcohol.

"The minor was caught in the parking lot in his car with two cans of beer," Casey said. "We don't even sell canned beer."

Another time, a patron reported his truck stolen from the parking lot.

"It wasn't stolen. His buddy had borrowed it. But yet, we got credited with the call," Casey said.

The bar was never cited for any liquor violations, he said.

Before the probationary license was issued, Peppy's was one of the hottest spots in Cape Girardeau, featuring live shows by rock and country performers like Foghat and Deana Carter.

On a good night, 500 to 700 patrons would crowd the bar.

But business started going downhill in July when the probationary license was issued.

"People thought we had lost our license at that time, which we didn't," Casey said. "You know how people are. They assume things that aren't true."

Then later in the summer, two of the bar's air-conditioning units went out, and part of the bar had to be closed off.

Losing the liquor license was the final straw, Casey said.

Casey said he hadn't been spending much time at Peppy's. He's been too busy with his new restaurant, The Italian Grape Vine, located in downtown Cape Girardeau.