Gulf Shores bars staying open for now

By GUY BUSBY
Government Editor
guy@gulfcoastmedia.com
Posted 2/8/23

GULF SHORES — Two Gulf Shores bars that have been the source of complaints are continuing to operate, one with a temporary business license and the other under a court order.The Gulf Shores …

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Gulf Shores bars staying open for now

Posted

GULF SHORES — Two Gulf Shores bars that have been the source of complaints are continuing to operate, one with a temporary business license and the other under a court order.

The Gulf Shores City Council held two meetings recently to discuss whether to allow Mudbugs and the Cohiba Dunes Cigar Bar to continue to operate.

A council meeting was scheduled Thursday, Feb. 2 to discuss Mudbugs, but a Baldwin County Circuit Court judge issued a temporary restraining order blocking city action just before the hearing, city officials said. Mayor Robert Craft said the city will reconsider the issue later.

"Because of the entry for an order for the temporary restraining order by the circuit clerk of Baldwin County, the public for consideration of renewal or non-renewal of this business license is being adjourned to a date to be determined after the order expires or is rescinded," Craft said at the meeting.

The council voted Monday, Jan. 30 to grant a temporary business license renewal to Cohiba Dunes after a discussion that lasted more than one hour. The license expires May 1.

Deputy Police Chief Dan Netemeyer said that since 2017, police have been called out to the bar 181 times. By comparison, he said that in the same time period, police were called to two other area bars, 60 and 62 times.

"These are not the type of activities that the citizens of Gulf Shores expect. These are not the type of activities that the guests of Gulf Shores expect," Netemeyer said. "In this case of Cohiba Dunes, I don't think anybody attending the Cobb Theater for a late-night action thriller would want to walk out in the parking lot and live it real life, which has occurred on the parking lot of Cohiba Dunes in the past."

Owners of the Cohiba Dunes said they are working to improve the bar. Turner Adcock said he recently became one of the owners. He said the owners have hired new staff and plan to fix the problems raised by police and city officials.

"We're purchasing this partnership with complete understanding of the condition it had declined to," Adcock said. "We knew what we were up against. With additional information provided by Deputy Chief Netemeyer, it is excessive, but all plans continue forward. We truly believe that we can refurbish Cohiba entirely to a point where it's back to its glory days."

Netemeyer said police calls to the bar in the last five years include 12 assault reports, 27 disturbances and 23 listed as fights-domestic.

The two other bars that he used as examples had a total of two assaults, 18 disturbances and seven fight-domestic calls, Netemeyer said.

"Nobody wants to come into Gulf Shores, unfamiliar with the area and go into a place and basically encounter a wild, wild west encounter," Netemeyer said.

The deputy chief showed a video of one bar customer firing a shot at a vehicle after a disturbance. In another video, a man attempts to run from officers.

Netemeyer said that police also arrested a patron who sold drugs to an undercover operative in the bar and are looking for an employee who sold drugs on other occasions.

He said gang graffiti has also been sprayed on the outside walls of the building.

Dan Alexander, who has been an owner of the bar for several years, said problems began after the owners brought in management and employees that intended to bring in a younger crowd and improve business. He said he did not realize what was going on at the bar.

"The management there between my partner and I, we knew how to run a business, but none of us were young enough to know what the crowd needed, what the bartenders needed," Alexander said. "We just didn't know how to manage our people and we started going downhill."

He said the former management and staff have been replaced and security measures put in place.

"They've already replaced all those people," Alexander said. "We have a trained head of security now. We have a wand in case we think people are coming in with weapons on them."

Adcock said new practices at the bar include changing the music as well as other efforts to discourage illegal behavior.

"We set the DJ with rules about what kind of music that can be coming in – no rap, no gang affiliation music, certain things that are going to prevent certain clientele thinking it's that kind of establishment," Adcock said. "We've got brand new security, all new employees. The bartenders that are with us now, the security that's with us now are all on the same page as us and want the same thing, the same goals the same everything that we're looking to do that day in and day out."

He said the bar owners and employees began making improvements before the city set the hearing and asked for time to show that the business will change.

"The timing of all this has come at a pivotal moment for the bar because you caught us kind of in the beginning of the new and we hate that we're here to have to address what the place was," Adcock said. "However, we're happy, given the opportunity to prove it, to be able to look back and say we proved we could do it, could fix it, could refurbish it."

The motion approved by the council granted a temporary business license from Feb. 1 until May 1.

As part of the agreement, smoking will not be allowed until officials determine that the business is complying with the no smoking ordinance. Security cameras must be maintained inside and outside the building and police given access. The back door entrance needs to be locked and used only as an employee entrance, according to the city resolution. Police will review the business each month.