More Juicy Drama at the Leather Bars

Oh I love this the Drama never ends. Rumors are flying that the Harabor Room has closed. Not exactly true, boys and girls. As some of you may have heard Mick Engebritson an Agent for the Harbor Room Corporation died of a massive heart attack leaving the other partner in the corporation Fitz. Of course as you know there is fearce competition between certain Leather Bars, one in particular comes to mind which my sources allege may be the cause of the current debacle. Three guesses and the first two don't count. Anyway I present to you a letter that Fitz sent out explaining the the problem.

What's Going On?From: Harbor Room <fitz@harbor-room.com>Date: Sat, 12 May 2007 21:42:55 -0500
UPDATE So, What’s Going On?
Hello All!
So what is going on over there at that Harbor Room anyways? I heard the Harbor Room is closed down. I heard the police came in and closed the bar. There are so many rumors, so here goes. Harbor Room started with two people who formed a corporation to open this bar. Those two people are none other than Mick Engebritson and myself Gregg. Mick was our “agent” for the corporation, and I have been the owner of the corporation and the building. All has been well for our 7 years now and have never had a run in with the law. And we have been blessed to have a great group of customers who I would prefer to call Friends. Then two weeks ago, Mick was struck by a massive heart attack that took him by surprise and without warning at the young age of 53. Last Saturday I had a chance to see so many of you who attended the reception here at the Harbor Room following Mick’s wake.
But going back before his wake I promptly went to city hall to rectify the matter of our license in the light of Mick’s passing. After a few hours of paperwork and appointment of a new agent to the corporation in the Milwaukee Licensing Division’s offices, we were good to go and on our way. The kind people at city hall gave us the forms, we took oaths, got notarized and even wrote them a healthy check and got a receipt.
Then earlier this week, many of you came in and said, hmmmmmmmm! I heard a rumor over at ________from_______that you lost your license. Well, we said it wasn’t so. Then the Milwaukee Police Department claimed to get an ANNOYMOUS TIP that our license was not valid. Well, anytime a tip is recieved, it simply must be investigated! The Milwaukee Police Department arrived here on Friday at 6:10 p.m. to review our license. They took down the information from us and compared it to what they had in their on line computer listing. Bingo, no match. The new appointment had not been processed and is not in their computer. But in fact the Liquor Specialist in the Licensing Division of City Hall had us fill out an entirely wrong form. It was to be a TRANSFER of LICENSE due to Death of the Licensee not the regular Renewal of Liquor License with an appointment of a new agent. That form was coming due too, so no harm done there really, other than the mistake has resulted in the city closing our establishment. That being said, I will simply enclose here exchanges between the aldermen, the police dept for your edification!
First let’s get technical. LOL! CHAPTER 125 ALCOHOL BEVERAGES

http://www.tlw.org/public/content/Documents/Chapter_125.pdf
(b) From person to person. 1. Licenses to sell alcohol beveragesmay be transferred to persons other than the licensee if thelicensee, or an applicant for a subsequently granted license, dies,becomes bankrupt or makes an assignment for the benefit of creditorsduring the license year or after filing the application. If a retaillicensee becomes disabled, the municipality may, upon application,transfer the license to the licensee’s spouse if that spouse mayhold a license under sub. (5) and complies with all of the requirementsunder this chapter applicable to original applicants, exceptthat the spouse is exempt from payment of the license fee for theyear in which the transfer takes place.
2. Upon the happening of any of the events under subd. 1., thepersonal representative, the surviving spouse if a personal representativeis not appointed, the trustee or the receiver may continueor sell or assign the business. (This could result in legal issues with our attorney to begin, ugh)
4. If the business is sold or assigned, the license may be transferredto the successor owner or assignee at no charge if:a. He or she complies with the requirements applicable tooriginal applicants; andb. He or she is acceptable to the issuing authority and consentto the transfer is given by the issuing authority
You still with me? LOL Now for some more excerpts! Ain’t this fun?
Re: Closure of Harbor Room by Milwaukee Police Department
Hello Alderman Witkowiak,
This is the form the License Division should have given us. When I went in, I specifically asked for Patricia Profitt, however we were steered to one of her “Liquor Specialists.” That specialist had us fill out the entire new form AT 115 instead of this Transfer. We being myself, the liquor specialist, my new agent appointment and Patricia all spoke about Myron’s death and his upcoming funeral. No one however brought up anything about this form AT 108 that I found on line by going through Google. We went as far as proceeding to the Treasurer and paying $ 1,104.00 that otherwise would not have been due until the time of renewal being July 24, 2007. It says there is no charge for a transfer in the case of death.
The police never did return Friday evening. We waited until 9:45 and then contacted the police department to check on the status of our call that was placed at 7:30 p.m. When they checked, I was informed there was NO PENDING STATUS and that no call had been placed to the Police Department.
In inquiring further, I did in fact get the police department to admit that someone was indeed here for the purpose of checking our license. I asked to speak to someone and was told that “they were out doing tavern license checks, and they were with the State Bar Man.” This unit had not returned to the station and did not know when they would return after doing their “tavern license checks.” I told by the officer, that we were told by the officer that came to our establishment said, “They were responding to an anonymous tip that we did not have a license.” He replied “that was not true.” The only further information he would provide was that it was “Squad 2 G.”
FOLLOWED BY:Dear Alderman,
This is just to inform you that I have already met with the shift captain of District Two Milwaukee Police Department. I provided them with all of our licenses, the AT 115, the receipts, and the Transfer Form that should have been provided and or completed when we came to city hall to take care of this matter on May 2nd. They agreed we did everything in a prompt and orderly fashion but they could not allow us to open because a new license has not shown up in their on-line computer system. When that transfer is approved by City Hall and it appears on their computer, they said we may go ahead and reopen. Until then they said nothing could be done and that “not even the Chief of Police could give us the approval to operate.” Because of my business partner, Myron Engebritson’s sudden death, the license for the business is simply invalid.
And in Reply from our fine Alderman, and I do mean that, this seems to be one very nice and sincere gentleman. And I ain’t blowin’ no smoke!
Gregg,We will try and get to the bottom of this first thing Mon. am through lic. div..Call 286 2861 and speak with Mike McGuire; he is my Lesislative Assistant. Tell him that you sent a e-mail in with the info and ask him to confrence with either Rebecca Barron or Richard Pfaff in Lic. Div. and see what it will take to get this all fixed. Call McGuire at aprox 8:30 am on monday.He will do what he can and keep me in the loop.
Jim
So, how does that all line up with what you have heard? LOL. At least you are receiving your information directly from me at the Harbor Room as to clear up any RUMORS you have been told. Some people are really enjoying this I am sure. That is fine. That’s also real life. I worry more about what you think of us here at Harbor Room, and the fine reputation and trust we have built over the years with our friends and patrons. So I want you to know what is really going on.
Of course I could write more! I’ve never been short of words. But Harbor Room is still here. It will remain to be here. In fact, what could be better! Watch for our Grand Re-Opening Celebrations! People say I don’t advertise, LOL! I don’t need too! Bad Press is Better Than No Press At ALL!
Isn’t Life Fun? A change of pace does everyone good. Thanks for taking time to read this. I will keep you informed and up to date! Cheers!
Thanks Guys! Gregg

One suggestion I will make if Fitz is reading this. When dealing with Government officials, put everything in Writing. Send a certified letter, return reciept required verifying your conversation/s. If you email require a Reeturn reciept to verify that the intended person got the email and by all means make hard copies for your files. Another thing and I know they don't like this but get yourself a small electronic pocket recorder, turn it on, stick it in your shirt pocket and record the conversastion. It may not be used in court as evidence but you can make some pretty accurate notes from it afterwords. Get the names of everyone you talk to right away and never send anything by regular mail or email. That is taken from over thirty years as a landlord.

To the competition. You're still not the only show in town. You are not doing too well either seeing as your license is comming up the end of this month. Hint Hint.