OLCC removes restrictions on old owner, imposes them on new owner-

Lee Perlman
The Mid-county MEMO

Go figure
In June the Oregon Liquor Control Commission granted Phuong Truong a renewal of her liquor license at New Star restaurant and lounge, 11340 N.E. Halsey St., and removed restrictions on her right to have Karaoke there. This despite a fight last year in which two men were hit with pool cues.

Later that month Truong sold the place to Jeff Jones, who has renamed it Wired Sports. It features free Internet access (hence the name), six satellite dishes connected to giant TV screens in what Jones says is “the biggest sports bar on the East Side.”

Hopefully, that will be a sufficient draw. Last month Jones, with no previous bar-owning experience and hence no black marks against him, agreed to a “voluntary” compliance plan with OLCC under which he may not provide Karaoke or any other live entertainment, nor even play recorded music loud enough to interfere with conversation. It is the latest chapter in the life of this troubled establishment.

History
In 1999 it was Scott Detweiler’s Eight Balls of Fire, a popular place to go dancing, and a source of friction with both OLCC and the police. There were complaints of noise, unruly conduct, fights both in the bar and the parking lot and arrests of patrons for driving under the influence. Detweiler complained that the accusations were exaggerated and a deliberate harassment campaign by East Precinct. Nonetheless, in November 2000, faced with the loss of his license, he agreed to a long list of restrictions, including prohibitions on dancing and live entertainment.

In March 2001 Detweiler sold out to Truong, who had tended bar for years in her native Vietnam, and vowed to get out of the liquor business. (Detweiler, for a time, took over management of the 52nd Avenue Sports Bar on lower Sandy Boulevard.) Truong’s licenses, based on 8 Balls’ past troubles, included prohibitions on dancing and live entertainment, with Karaoke allowed only three weekday nights from 9 to 12:30. There was also a stipulation that “all incidents and disturbances involving physical contact or threat of violence will be immediately reported to the police.” Shortly thereafter, Truong began asking to be allowed to have Karaoke on weekends. She cited her clean record. She even received a letter of commendation from East Precinct commander Richard Richter when bartender Dawn Hill refused to serve an underage “sting” decoy. She had only one major incident - but it was a doozy.

Night of the pool cue
On April 13 Joe Jean, his girlfriend (and later fiancée) Andrea Maier and three male friends stopped in at New Star. During their stay they got into a fight with a group of Asian pool players. According to Jean, Maier, and friends, the Asians set upon them when a very drunken friend got in the way of their pool game.

According to New Star employees, the white patrons had provoked the fight by calling the Asians using racial epithets. In either case, Jean and a friend were hit in the head with pool cues. After being pushed outside by staff, Jean was set upon and beaten by two men.

In three subsequent interviews with OLCC personnel, Truong stated that there had been “no altercation, just pushing and shoving.” She denied claims by Maier and her friends that the young woman had run into the bar and repeatedly screamed, “Call the police! They’re [expletive] killing him!” Truong said she herself called on her employees to make the call, but since each assumed someone else would, no one did.

Ultimately OLCC staff recommended cancellation of the license because the licensee “made material false statements in order to induce or prevent commission action.” Truong appealed and the case was heard before administrative laws judge Charlotte Rutherford. (She also appealed through letters to her neighbors, claiming that she was being singled out, picked on, and accusing OLCC staff of racism.)

After a series of hearings, during which OLCC’s Nanci Carter repeatedly clashed with Rutherford, the judge cleared Truong of the charge. She did not dispute that an “altercation” had occurred, contrary to Truong’s statements; she simply found there was a lack of proof that Truong knew the statement was false. She accepted at face value the owner’s claim that she could not see the fight from her seat. She dismissed the alleged victims testimony because of “important conflicts among the statements given by patrons such as how long the fight lasted, where the fight took place, and what each of them did.” (When Jean was asked the fight’s length he replied dryly, “I wasn’t keeping real careful track of the time. I was trying to stay on my feet and not pass out.”)

Rutherford also dismissed the testimony of bartender Krissy Jarrett. She testified that she was instructed to lie by Truong. Rutherford found another “important conflict” here; unlike the patrons, Jarrett said one of the patrons was hit more than once with the pool cue. Interviews of Truong by OLCC staffers Peggy Mullen, Charles Ellis, and Chris Hansen were also thrown out, since neither a tape recording was made nor verbatim notes of the Truong interview were taken. The OLCC Staffers appealed Rutherford’s ruling to the OLCC commission, where it was upheld. The commission also removed the restrictions on Karaoke, since it had had no bearing on the April 13 incident.

Brave new wired world
Now it is Jones’ turn. His background is in “marketing and business strategies,” he says. He purchased the business because he thought it would be “a good business opportunity.” Wired Sports’ manager, Tina Brannon has been in the business for more than ten years, serving as manager of the West Side’s Beaches. Jones plans to move from Truong’s Hawaiian food motif to a “more traditional bar menu.” Offerings will include hot wings, mozzarella sticks, hamburgers, Rueben sandwiches, baked fish, pasta dishes and “signature salads,” plus barbecue on the patio in the summer. Wired Sports will be open 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. six days a week, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Sundays, with a “football buffet” beginning at 9 a.m. Sundays during the pro football season. There will be pool tables and electronic games, but the focus will be the televised sports. Jones is well aware of the establishment’s history. “I’m not looking for big crowds,” he says. “I want this to be a good, safe neighborhood bar.”

OLCC staff must have been thinking of New Star as they drew up Wired Sports’ compliance plan. The bar must be re-arranged so that the person in charge can view the whole premises. There must be uniformed security on duty from 8 p.m. to closing three nights a week, and they must patrol the parking lot as well as the interior.

Fred Sanchez, president of the Gateway Area Business Association, attended the discussions between Jones and OLCC, Sanchez says he hopes GABA can hold some functions at Wired Sports. Hazelwood Neighborhood Association President Arlene Kimura says she hopes for the best for Jones. She is concerned about his ability to attract the kind of upscale crowd he seeks in Mid-county. “I do want him to have a good and successful business,” she says. “If it succeeds, it would be a benefit to the neighborhood. We need more of those, not empty buildings. I’ve got my fingers crossed.”