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Even though one of the North Webster establishments had five violations and the other had one related to public indecency, both of the restaurants/bars before the Kosciusko County Alcohol Tobacco Commission Thursday received approval for their alcohol licenses to be renewed.
Lagos Steakhouse LLC, doing business as Jimmy’s Restaurant, sought the renewal of their beer, wine and liquor 210-1 restaurant license, but had five violations from June 2024.
Nightshift of North Webster Inc., doing business as Stimmelators Gentlemen’s Club, 114 E. Washington St., North Webster, had their beer, wine and liquor restaurant (210) license up for renewal but also had a violation from June 2024.
There were no remonstrators against the license renewals at Thursday’s meeting. Both were continued from the October meeting due to there not being a quorum then. The county board is a recommending body to the state commission, which will have final say on the licenses’ renewal.
Jon Bransfield, president and CEO of Nightshift, said the incident took place in May 2024 and they were cited in September 2024 after excise officers reviewed their surveillance system. He said it was his understanding one entertainer “touched” another entertainer and “we were issued a public indecency because that’s what it falls under.”
As soon as they were issued that violation, Bransfield said they implemented additional training over and above what they also had. He said approximately 500 entertainers have gone through Night Shift since his time of being there, and currently there are 40 to 50 “active” entertainers.
“I’ve been the owner there since 2019, and this is the first violation we’ve received since then. Prior to that time, there may have been some others, but I’m not aware of what all of those were,” he said.
According to a copy of the Indiana State Excise Police report, on or around June 25, 2024, Indiana State Excise Police Officer Brant Mendenhall was reviewing video footage from a DVR seized from Night Shift. While he was attempting to recover missing video footage, he saw two female dancers who appeared to be performing a sex act on a man within the premise. One of the female dancers also appeared to be performing a sex act with the other female dancer.
Bransfield explained all the training that his staff and entertainers go through to the commission.
Board member Dan Woods asked if anyone else was fined besides the bar. Bransfield said the girls were not cited or fined, but the individual that committed the offenses was no longer with them. The other entertainer did not do any touching so she was not reprimanded.
Commission member Dan Woods said the violation didn’t involve alcohol, there were no remonstrators and Bransfield tried to correct things and provides training, so he made a motion to approve the license renewal. Member Mike Hall seconded and the motion passed 3-0. Commission President Alan Alderfer was absent.
When Excise Officer April Tackett asked Jimmy’s Restaurant owner and manager Karina Velazquez to explain their violation and what happened to the board, Velazquez said one of the girls didn’t ask for an ID of an undercover underage girl and served her alcohol.
“That’s it?” Tackett asked. Velazquez said yes.
“As the owner and the manager of this business, you think the only thing that you did wrong at the restaurant was serve a minor?” Tackett asked.
When Velazquez hesitated, Tackett asked, “Did you let the minor inside the bar room and not the family room?”
Velazquez said the minor came in through the bar door.
“Did you have your permit displayed on the wall?” Tackett asked.
“Yes,” Velazquez said, but Tackett responded, “No. Because it was expired so there was nothing to put on the wall.”
Tackett then asked if the server, Taylor Stouder, had an employee permit at the time, to which Velazquez said no.
“So it wasn’t just one charge of sale to a minor,” Tackett stated. “We have sale of alcohol beverages to a minor, allowing a minor in a tavern, no display of permit, no employee permit and the business had an expired permit. So do you want to explain to the board how you can run a restaurant/bar and not even have an alcohol permit valid?”
Velazquez said they thought they had it already renewed “and I guess we had a tax clearance on hold, so I guess we just thought it was just renewed until - that’s why we didn’t look into the alcohol (license) to see if it was renewed or not. But we didn’t realize we had our tax clearance hold on that.”
Tackett indicated the violations occurred on the 30th, but their license expired on the 18th in the same month. Velazquez said they had applied for an extension. They paid their fine of $1,250. Stouder still works there and now has an employee permit.
They haven’t been selling alcohol as they’re waiting for their license renewal.
Woods said what bothered him the most was that they sold alcohol to someone underage. However, with no remonstrators, the license was renewed.
Also before the commission Thursday were two new applications for El Guadalajara 3 Warsaw Inc., doing business as El Guadalajara, 1115 W. Lake St., Warsaw. They sought a beer and wine retailer restaurant license and a beer, wine and liquor restaurant (210-1) license. Tackett explained they had to apply for one of the licenses to get the other.
Co-owners Francisco Hernandez and Ismiel Ruiz appeared before the commission. Hernandez said it’s a new restaurant coming into the building that was a former Penguin Point restaurant.
“We own more than 30 restaurants, and we’re going to expand over here to show our new food to the community. We sell Mexican food, seafood, so something different than not only Mexican food,” Hernandez said. He projected they will be open probably in a month.
With no remonstrators, the licenses were approved.
Finally, The Golf Club of Warsaw LLC, doing business as The Golf Club of Warsaw, 318 Enterprise Drive, Warsaw, sought a new application for a beer, wine and liquor riverfront district license. Owner Thaddeus Wallin said last year they applied for and obtained the beer and wine riverfront license, but want to expand that to include liquor especially because a lot of their customers like the vodka-based seltzers and drinks like that .
With no remonstrators, the new application was approved.
Licenses without any violations renewed by the commission included:
• American Legion Post 49 Inc., doing business as American Legion Post 49, 301 N. Buffalo St., Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor fraternal club license.
• Warsaw Wings LLC, doing business as Buffalo Wild Wings, 376 Enterprise Drive, Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor restaurant (210-1) license.
• Maria’s Family Restaurant LLC, doing business as Maria’s Original House of Pancakes, 3865 Lake City Highway, #5, Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor restaurant (210-1) license.
• Charcroff Investments LLC, doing business as Wings Etc. Warsaw, 3416 Lake City Highway, Warsaw, beer, wine and liquor restaurant (210) license.
