CLOSING THE LOOPHOLE IN LIQUOR LAWS

Hearings were held this past week on House and Senate bills that seek to close a loophole in the state's liquor laws that permits certain businesses to bypass local liquor laws. Cape Girardeau Police chief Rick Hetzel, joined by Capt. Steve Strong, were in Jefferson City Tuesday to testify on Senate Bill 166 and House Bill 156. The Senate measure is sponsored by state Sen. Peter Kinder, R-Cape Girardeau, while the House measure is sponsored by state Rep. Vicki Hartzler, R-Harrisonville. The bills would require businesses gaining a resort liquor license from the state to comply with city ordinances.

As the law currently stands, it is possible for a business denied a liquor license by city officials to obtain a license from the state allowing them to sell liquor by the drink or package liquor. This is the resort license loophole. The matter came to light partly from the case of a Cape Girardeau nightspot that was denied a license by the city council owing to numerous police calls that had made the place, under prior ownership, a real threat to public peace and safety. The manager of the nightclub bought it out of a bankruptcy proceeding and succeeded in getting a resort license from the state after city officials denied his application.

The owner attended Tuesday's hearing and testified that his management is completely different from that of the previous owner. Other witnesses opposed the bill, claiming it would, as currently written, eliminate all resort licenses granted for true resorts located in unincorporated areas at such places as Lake of the Ozarks and near Branson. This may well be and, if so, would augur for a rewrite. There has to be a way to write a measure that would stop state resort liquor licenses from becoming a way for questionable operators to defeat the legitimate concerns of local officials.