Liquor license request rejected for a third time

Little Kohler Haus owner David Cook was denied a liquor license for the third time by the Fredonia Town Board last week.

Cook recently pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor charge of serving liquor without a license and, as part of his plea agreement, had a charge of buying liquor for commercial distribution from a retailer dismissed. The charges stem from a July raid of Little Kohler Haus conducted after a missed renewal deadline cost Cook his license the previous month.

The five-member Town Board last Wednesday, missing Supr. Jim Stemper, voted 2-2 on a motion to restore Cook’s license, which meant the motion failed.

Town Chairman Lance Leider joined Supr. John Depies in voting against the license.

“I felt he was not worthy of having a license in our town,” Leider said, noting it has only been less than a year since Cook’s legal trouble.

“It’s what the people wanted. And that’s how I voted,” he said.

Supr. Chris Janik, who along with Supr. Matt Miller voted to grant the license, said Cook has made efforts to improve the condition of Little Kohler Haus in response to requests made by board members during two previous license renewal hearings and has otherwise run a clean operation.

“Those are the things I find frustrating,” Janik said. “The (other supervisors) laid out a number of conditions and he’s worked hard to meet those conditions.

“I would really like to see him get his license back and get back in business.”

Cook told Ozaukee Press in October that he had invested $8,000 in repairs and renovations to bring the tavern into compliance with town codes. He also tore down an ax throwing room at the request of town officials.

Leider said that although Cook “supposedly” improved the bar, it “still looks like a mess.” He added that many of the tavern’s  neighbors have complained to him about the operation.

But only one resident, who said living next to the bar had been “hell for years,” has complained about Little Kohler Haus during the three previous license hearings.

Janik said he doesn’t give a lot of credence to complaints privately reported to board members.

“I am not a regular there so I don’t know how his business is,” he said. “But I know when there has been issues (from the town’s perspective), he’s tried to fix them.

“(The other board members) must know of things I don’t.”

Leider said Cook’s liquor license issues represent a pattern of doing without asking and general disregard for town rules.

“It’s the same story over and over,” he said.

Cook’s liquor license expired June 30. He was warned about the deadline by an Ozaukee County sheriff’s deputy a week before that and responded by saying he was going to submit the paperwork, according to a criminal complaint.

Sheriff’s deputies observed patrons drinking beer and mixed drinks at Little Kohler Haus on two nights in early July, the complaint states.

On July 11, Wisconsin Department of Revenue officers and sheriff’s deputies searched Little Kohler Haus and saw Cook and two employees appearing to set up for a bartending shift.

Although authorities said receipts found at the bar indicated he had sold liquor after his license expired, Cook has said he had simply given a few beers away for free at the bar and didn’t sell them.

In the bar’s office, officers found 28 receipts dated 2024 from local alcohol retailers, according to the complaint. It is a crime for alcohol vendors to purchase from retailers in Wisconsin.

Most of them were from Jeff’s Spirits in West Bend. Cook said he had told the owner there that he needed to purchase from a wholesaler and was told it would be all right since he was offered a 10% discount.

The raid, Cook said in October, was disappointing for law enforcement and the town.

“They wanted to find drugs and guns but they didn’t find anything. So they did their best to make stuff up,” he said.

Janik is running against Leider for Town Chairman in April.