Bar owners threaten to sue state

PALMER -- The Funny Farm remains closed and without a liquor license. Last week a letter threatening legal action against the state alcohol regulators emerged from behind the closed doors of the establishment. A copy of the letter was provided to the Frontiersman by Mike Coomler, husband of the bar's owner and would-be licensee, Shamarie Coomler.

The letter is signed by Shamarie and puts the state of Alaska Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and ABC director Doug Griffin on notice that she will file a discrimination case against them for "discriminating against a woman-owned business."

On Monday, Griffin said he hadn't received a copy of the letter.

"We've got plenty of women who are licensees, so that's an interesting take on this," Griffin said. "But no, I haven't seen that letter."

An ABC enforcement officer removed a temporary license from the Funny Farm -- formerly the Pole-Lock Farm -- the week before Christmas and said at the time that the Coomlers hadn't properly transferred the license from former owner Ruth Rebischke.

ABC officials said they looked into the license transfer after reading that the Coomlers had closed a real estate deal on the property in The Anchorage Daily News. Reporters were writing about the bar because of the Coomlers' plans to bring erotic dancers to the bar -- in violation of the Mat-Su Borough's core area zoning ordinances.

Griffin said the license transfer should come before the ABC board at its January meeting in Juneau, and that the Coomlers will be allowed to speak to the board via teleconference.

Griffin has the power to grant a temporary license but said he won't until the board's meeting. He said background checks on Mike Coomler and problems with a borough conditional use permit process both prevent him from issuing a temporary license.

"I'm not trying to dump this back on the borough, but that's part of the process too. Local governments do have a say in these things," Griffin said.

The bar remains closed, and Mike Coomler remains livid. Coomler said his background does not include any felony convictions and shouldn't matter anyway.

"There's going to have to be some kind of penalty waged against [the ABC Board] for what they've done -- They don't give somebody a driver's license and then have the DMV come and take it away the next day," Coomler said.

Griffin said ABC considers Mike Coomler an associate of his wife, the licensee, who can legally be connected to the business.

"He's an affiliate, which means he's not on the license, but under the statute an affiliate is someone you can reasonably assume has some influence on the license and the business," Griffin said. "A couple of times when we've appeared there, he has been on the premises and engaged in the business."

The letter from Shamarie Coomler ends with a claim that she will seek damages for losses, including losses incurred by her employees. The interruption in income is putting the business at risk, according to her husband.

"Now that we've closed on the sale, she's got a payment to make on the bar on the 19th of January, and they've essential shut her down with no income," he said.