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From major milestones to forgotten curiosities, this feature will highlight the stories that once made headlines — just as they appeared in the Herald on this day in years past.
City Council fails to grant liquor, beer license
A Grand Forks general liquor and beer license remains untapped after roughly 1½ years of on-again, off-again City Council disagreement about a suitable owner.
Council and Public Safety Committee members Arden Shores and Richard Shea Monday night reluctantly agreed to review — again — four applicants for a Class 1 on-sale, off-sale liquor license.
But other council members and City Attorney Jay Fiedler said the applicants had not met some application criteria established during changes in alcoholic beverage control laws made in December 1982.
The license has been available since Dixie Bar, 20 S. Fourth St., went out of business.
Applicants are McMenamy’s Tavern, State Mill Road; Skipper Lounge, 111 S. Fourth St.; Steak N Stein, 4223 12th Ave. N.; and Charlie Brown’s Bar, 414 Gateway Dr.
The Public Safety Committee, which also includes council member James Johnson, recommended Steak N Stein for the license, provided that the business submitted banquet room expansion plans within 90 days and started construction within six months. Steak N Stein management questioned whether it could meet those provisions, Shores said.
Fiedler said revised city law requires that license applications be accompanied by written assurance that any license-related expansion or construction be commenced within 90 days. Applications also must include an architect’s drawing of any proposed remodeling or structural changes.
Applicants apparently failed to meet those provisions, Fiedler and several council members said. Committee members said the provisions, which were considered in part in rating the applicants, were thought to be connected to a license lottery idea that the council earlier refused to accept.
Council members Ludwik Kulas and Bob Hanson argued that longtime, reputable license seekers should receive highest priority, such as McMenamy’s and Skipper Lounge.
“I think it should (go) to the person that’s been here the longest… I don’t know if it’s old fashioned to be fair or what,” Hanson said.But council member Thomas Hagness complained that his colleagues were “totally ignoring” committee recommendations and months of work done last year by a special committee established to study city liquor laws.
Mayor H.C. Wessman formed the 11-member committee in May 1982 after a controversy over supper club licenses.
Once the public safety committee makes its recommendation, council members will meet as a committee of the whole to review license applicants.
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