Bar loses liquor license

June 16, 2006

By MARY AMES

Frontiersman

WASILLA - Fish Heads Bar lost its liquor license and will be closed on July 1, but owner Bob Stevens said it is just the beginning of his fight to stay open.

&#8220We are going to stay open and appeal it,” Stevens said. &#8220That gives us another year, at least.”

Official word came down from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board on Thursday that the liquor license for Fish Heads will not be renewed, but the popular bar on the Palmer-Wasilla Highway can remain open, serving alcohol, until June 30, with two key provisions, said Bill Roche, ABC enforcement supervisor.

&#8220They can't have music or adult entertainment,” Roche said.

After June 30, Fish Heads must cease serving alcoholic beverages, and if the bar violates the two provisions before the end of the month, ABC will shut it down immediately, Roche said.

Stevens said he wouldn't play music for the rest of the month, a concept that distresses him.

&#8220That's like telling a newspaper they can't print words,” Stevens said. &#8220It's a First Amendment issue.”

Stevens appealed the board's decision to not renew the license about a year ago, said Ken Hudson, chief of code compliance for the Mat-Su Borough. Thursday's decision was the final one in a long appeal process, he said.

Several years ago, under a different owner, the place was a bowling alley with a liquor license, Hudson said.

&#8220It was more of a quiet neighborhood bar,” Hudson said. &#8220It went out of business and was closed when the new owner bought it.”

When neighbors complained about noise from Fish Heads, the borough paid thousands of dollars to monitor the music, and found no code violations, he said.

But in the last few years, the borough has adopted noise and vibration ordinances, as well as a borough-wide ordinance governing adult entertainment.

Fish Head's entertainment violated the new standards for noise and sexual activities,

Hudson said.

In a previous interview, Stevens said he had male dancers, like a Chippendale's Revue, in his bar, but the dancers weren't nude.

&#8220It was mainstream entertainment,” Stevens said. &#8220Code compliance said you can't have ‘nudes' on the sign.”

The bar also had an event called shadow dancing, where the white light from a projector backlit dancers behind a screen, which violated a borough code prohibiting specific sexual activities, including simulated sexual activities and the display of anatomical areas, Hudson said. That code was put in place several years earlier in response to a different business, he said.

&#8220We want voluntary compliance,” he said. &#8220We issued warnings, then citations. Some got convictions, some not, but we protested the continuation of the liquor license due to code violations and neighbor complaints.”

Hudson did not know off the top of his head how many citations the borough issued to the bar. But he clearly recalled that at one time there were 88 complaints about it to the borough.

That represents hundreds of hours the borough spent investigating complaints, he said.

&#8220And it's not just the borough,” Hudson said. &#8220Citizens on both sides of the issue have taken time off work to attend hearings to talk about their experiences.”

Stevens said the borough never notified him of a complaint, but it has given him tickets for violating borough code on days he wasn't open. Now, he is taking his case to an appellate court, he said. &#8220I feel very comfortable with what's going on,” Stevens said. &#8220In fact, I'm looking forward to it. It's not true they pulled the license and it's the end of the line. In fact, it's the beginning of the line.”

The state fire marshal closed the bar and bowling alley earlier this month due to fire code violations. The building reopened after Stevens fixed those problems, installing several upgrades. The ABC Board temporarily closed the building in April, also. That closing was resolved after Stevens tailored his floor plan to comply with the provisions for bowling alleys, and had the new diagram on file and approved by the board, Roche said at the time.

The borough is on a witch hunt, Stevens said, and the newspaper articles have been misleading because reporters are too lazy to come out and get the real story.

Contact Mary Ames at 352-2284 or mary.ames@frontiersman.com.