Amended OLCC code gives local venues leeway
■A change from initial drafts
will now allow local bars and
dance halls to stay in business
By Andrew Adams
Oregon Daily Emerald
Workers at the WOW Hall, Eu
gene’s only entertainment venue
that regularly admits both minors
and people of drinking age, are sat
isfied with amendments made to
the Oregon Liquor Control Com
mission’s regulations code for
businesses serving alcohol.
The changes drafted last year
would have barred all-age venues
from serving alcohol, forcing those
businesses to operate either with
out alcohol or close their doors to
minors. That made the WOW Hall
staff fearful that they would have
to close because both options
would sharply cut the hall’s rev
enue.
But the current changes, adopt
ed by the OLCC Sept. 8, leaves
room for them to stay in business.
“We’re actually pretty happy...it
means we can keep operating,”
said Sarah Chyleck, WOW Hall
concession manager and represen
tative.
Venue owners must now ensure
that minors are forbidden access to
drinking areas. In addition, areas
where minors are present must be
well-lighted, allowing managers to
watch for illegal activity, and an
OLCC-approved security plan
must be in place.
Chyleck said that because the
WOW Hall’s beer garden is in a
basement and the hall’s staff has
been managing minors and
drinkers for 20 years, the changes
won’t affect business. She is con
cerned about the changes, howev
er, because they define the WOW
Hall as a “dance hall.”
“They’ve made us fit into this
category and we see some prob
lems down the road if they make
some blanket laws that effect us
when we aren’t really that,” she
said.
She added the hall hosts acts
that range from quiet sit-down
events to loud bands for larger au
diences.
Chyleck said, for the most part,
she is relieved the hall can contin
ue to offer beer, because beer sales
account for most of the business’s
operating costs, while ticket rev
enue goes toward paying perform
ers.
While WOW Hall is unique in
Eugene because it admits minors
and serves alcohol, Chyleck said
it’s unfair that it received the brunt
of the regulation.
“I’m a little irritated because [the
changes] don’t say anything about
sports events,” she said. “There’s a
lot of irresponsible serving going
on at those events. Adults can sit
directly next to a child [while]
drinking beer.”
Chyleck said the first-draft
changes would have shut down
the WOW Hall, had State Rep.
Floyd Prozanski, D-Eugene, not
stepped in to help water down the
amendments.
A long period of public com
ment and subsequent revisions
irked OLCC Commissioner Kay
Kennet, who assisted in drafting
the changes.
“This rule has just taken forever
to get in place,” she said.
Kennet was one of four commis
sioners who voted in favor of the
amendments this month, along
with Commissioner Robert
Puentes, the sole dissenting vote.
Kennet said she initiated the
changes because she did not like
{ ( Liquor and the young
people were mixed up; it
was handled poorly.
Kay Kennet
OLCC Commissioner
the idea of minors in an environ
ment where there was drinking.
“Liquor and the young people
were mixed up; it was handled
poorly and there were all kinds of
potential problems. This will min
imize the intrigue and tempta
tion,” she said.
The changes will also take out
some of the attraction of alcohol
for minors, Kennet said.
If a business is found in viola
tion of the amended rules, which
take effect Oct. 1, the sanctions
will resemble those imposed if the
business is caught selling alcohol
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to minors, Kennet said. But, she
added that the intent of the
changes is more prohibitive than
regulatory.
“The whole idea is to prevent
these things from happening rather
than catching people,” she said.
OLCC spokesman Ken Palke
said the punishment for a first of
fense will likely be a choice be
tween a seven-day alcohol permit
suspension and a $1,155 fine. He
said the OLCC doesn’t expect to
find many businesses in violation
of the new regulations across the
state. The few all-age clubs that do
provide alcohol already have their
bars in a separate area.
Bob Jensen, owner of the Wild
Duck Brewery, said the changes
will have little effect on his busi
ness, because his bar is already
separate from the stage.
“When we go all ages in the
back, we don’t allow any alcohol
there,” he said. “You have to go to
the front to the bar to drink.”
Jensen said he understands why
the OLCC made the changes, but
added they should understand that
most minors are not drinking in
bars or dance halls but at parties,
parks or even in their cars.
“It’s an odd situation,” he said.
The OLCC “puts a lot of emphasis
on this location, but the consump
tion is going on elsewhere.”
News briefs
“Gap Creek” author to
read at Knight Library
Author Robert Morgan will will
read from and sign copies of his
book Gap Creek at 7:30 p.m. in the
browsing room of Knight Library.
Morgan is the author of two other
re-released collections of short sto
ries, “The Blue Valleys” and “The
Mountains Won’t Remember Us.”
The New York Times compares
Robert Morgan’s writing style with
country crooner Hank Williams’
“raw, lonesome pathos.” Oprah
Winfrey selected Morgan’s most
recent book, “Gap Creek, The Sto
ry of a Marriage,” now in paper
back, for her book club and a Balti
more Sun review claimed that the
“harsh beauty of the landscape
molds these lovers and its incen
diary power nearly destroys
them.”
The event is free. For more in
formation, browse http://www.uo
bookstore.com/cforum/events.ht
ml or call 346-4331.
“Paleolithic Thoughts” at
Law School
Museum Director Mel Aikens
discusses "Paleolithic Thoughts," a
look at the uncanny persistence of
religious symbols and ideas in the
oral tradition, at 5:30 p.m. Sept. 29
in Room 175 of the Knight Law
Center. The free event is held in
conjunction with "Oregon Archae
ology Celebration 2000," a month
long series of events on the protec
tion and interpretation of Oregon's
heritage. For more information,
browse http://natural-history.uore
gon.edu/ or call 346-3024.
Oregon
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