EM denies bartender’s license for applicant with 4th OWI
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
ELK MOUND — The Elk Mound Village Board has denied a bartender operator’s license for Tara Kathleen Cole (The Pourhouse).
This is Cole’s second application for a bartender’s license. The village board denied the first application in October of 2021 because of information Cole failed to disclose, said Elk Mound Police Chief Chad Weinberger, at the Elk Mound Village Board’s March 7 meeting.
The village board tabled the application from Cole at the February 7 meeting until the March 7 meeting pending the outcome of a March 1 hearing in Dunn County Circuit Court.
In two separate cases, Cole was charged with three felony counts of operating while intoxicated (OWI 4th), operating with a prohibited blood alcohol level (4th offense), bail jumping, and one misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
According to on-line court records, Cole pleaded guilty to the OWI (4th offense) at the March 1 court hearing, and Judge Luke M. Wagner ordered an ignition interlock, revoked Cole’s driver’s license for three years, ordered her to complete an alcohol assessment, ordered her to pay a fine of $2,652, and sentenced her to 165 days in the Dunn County Jail with Huber privileges granted after the first 48 hours.
Judge Wagner dismissed the felony charge of operating with a prohibited blood alcohol level (4th offense) based on a prosecutor’s motion.
In the second case, the felony count of bail jumping was dismissed, and Cole pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct.
Judge Wagner ordered her to pay $463 in court costs for the disorderly conduct.
Cole’s attorney, Scott Schlough, and Dunn County Assistant District Attorney Andrew Maki, both noted that the Wisconsin Department of Transportation will require a lifetime revocation of Cole’s driver’s license.
The charges related to OWI occurred in February of 2021, and the bar fight occurred in July of 2021, Police Chief Weinberger told the village board.
According to the village’s ordinances, an applicant may be denied a license if he or she has had “an arrest or conviction of at least two (2) offenses which are substantially related to the licensed activity within the five (5) years immediately preceding the license application.”
The question village board members must consider is whether the convictions are substantially related to alcohol and whether granting a bartender’s license would give the applicant more opportunity for criminal behavior when working unsupervised, Police Chief Weinberger said.
The applicant said she is getting treatment, but is this a person you want to issue a bartender’s license?he asked.
Two factors the village board should consider is the habitual offender and the task at hand and whether the felony convictions are substantially related to the task at hand, Brasch said.
If the applicant tends bar alone with no supervision, will that put the applicant in a position to drink and make poor decisions? he asked.
The Elk Mound Village Board unanimously approved a motion to deny the bartender operator’s license for Tara Kathleen Cole based on the two convictions in the last five years.
