Main Street Bar shut down for violations

The Main Street Bar will be shut down for a total of 20 days over the next four months for liquor license violations that include failing to control a September brawl that sent three people to the hospital for treatment.

The Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control cited the bar for violations on two separate occasions, imposing a five-day suspension in one instance and a 15-day suspension for the other, said Peter Lobdell, division supervisor.

The five-day suspension results from an instance where patrons were allowed to stay after the 1:30 a.m. closing time, Lobdell said. The second, more serious violation, stems from a Sept. 7 brawl at the bar during a private party.

At first the suspension was to be served in one stretch. After a request from attorneys for bar owner Rick Werner, Lobdell said he allowed the bar to take the suspension on five weekends over the next four months.

Cape Girardeau police were first called to the bar at about 12:30 a.m. over a quarrel between two women that resulted in one woman being hit in the face with a beer bottle. A half-hour later, police returned on reports that shots had been fired.

An officer arrived to find numerous people engaged in a brawl, police told the Southeast Missourian at the time, and officers had to push their way through crowds fleeing the bar. They found a bar with overturned chairs, tables and broken glass strewn about. Three people were taken to area hospitals for treatment.

The bar is regularly used by college fraternities and sororities for private parties.

Attorneys for Rick Werner, owner of the bar, told the liquor control division that the brawl took place when rival gangs, attending a private party, started fighting when a particular gang song was played by the DJ, Lobdell said.

Through his attorney, Werner has promised to restrict future parties to students with identification, Lobdell said.

The Main Street Bar has had violations in the past, Lobdell said. "I don't think that this one has a record of habitual violation but it has previous violations. The suspension was lengthy due to the nature of the violations, especially with police complaints that there were too many police calls to that establishment."

The suspension dates, and length of suspensions, are:

• Feb. 9 for four days
• March 8 for five days
• March 22 for four days
• May 10 for five days
• May 31 for two days.

The days counted include Sundays, despite Main Street having no Sunday sales license, and Mondays, although the bar is not usually open that night, Lobdell said.

Werner did not immediately return a call seeking comment.