Town of Morrison board pulls liquor license from Ponderosa Bar & Grill

Brian Roebke photo
The Morrison town board revoked the Class B Liquor & Class B beer license for Aoerosa Inc., operating as The Ponderosa Bar & Grill, at the request of the agent, Caullen Omdahl, at last week’s meeting. The board then declined to issue a license for the property owner.

By Brian Roebke
Editor
The Town of Morrison board approved revoking the liquor Class B Liquor & Class B beer license for Aoerosa Inc., operating as The Ponderosa Bar & Grill, at the request of the agent, Caullen Omdahl, at last week’s meeting and declined to issue a license for the property owner at the board’s September meeting.
Omdahl and his brother do not wish to have the building owner and agent, Paul Quinette, operating the business located at 7075 Morrison Road.
The board then discussed the Class B Liquor & Class B beer license application for the business as submitted by Quinette.
The board denied the application due to what it deemed “incomplete paperwork.”
Supervisor Dennis Laabs believes the Brown County Sherriff’s Department should be notified early the next morning. “They’ve been operating without (a liquor license) for the past month,” he added.
As a result of the action, the business no longer has a license to sell alcohol. On Friday, the business made a post on Facebook saying they were closed until Tuesday.
Following a discussion at a special board meeting a week earlier, the board approved the Conditional Use Permit for Wayside Renewables, which plans to construct one digester.
The builder of the digester, Dynamic Group, is the same company building the community digester at Greenleaf. 
“It will be a much smaller operation and the CUP only allows manure from Wayside Dairy’s operation and nothing from outside of that,” Zoning Administrator Joy Koomen said. “The digester will be run by Wayside Renewables. There will probably be about two loads of methane hauled out weekly.”
Included in the agreement is the company shall provide the town’s fire department with all necessary training, as mutually agreed upon by permittee and the fire department, to prepare the department to service the operation. Further, Wayside Renewables shall pay for any special equipment the fire department must acquire in order to provide service to the operation.
Dan Nemke of Dynamic Group said he would need to get a signature from his company’s president after he reviewed the document.
Koomen said the plan commission reviewed ordinances including a possible special events permit for more consistency when the town receives requests for outdoor events that might include more noise or traffic.
Koomen said it would be so people would get consistent answers all the time.
The town reviewed a complaint about continuous noise at a rental property owned by Ruesch Management on County W.
“We’re at about 12 police calls,” a neighbor told the town board.
The county dispatch operator now knows what she’s calling about before she even speaks.
Supervisor Jenny Wasmuth believes the occupants are playing a game, quieting down when they know law enforcement is on the way but then firing up the music when they know the coast is clear.
Another neighbor said they were lighting fireworks on July 4 and they received the leftovers in their yard and on their roof. She has not attempted to communicate with them because they don’t seem to understand English.
The board agreed to send a warning letter via certified mail, with weekly $500 citations issued if the problem continues.
Kempen told the audience he has not received anything from Invenergy in response to the town’s letter sent in August. However, it was noted the Town of Holland did receive a response to its letter, which is printed on page 5 of this newspaper.
Koomen gave an update on eyesore properties in Wayside, including parcel M-793, old bank building, parcel M86-1 6521 Morrison Rd., and the Heinrich property.
The board approved a Class B Liquor and Class B beer license for STOP DeGreef Ends Here, Sal-Bato Hospitality LLC, 8245 County Highway W, Greenleaf, with the new agent, Sally M. Henne.
Plans are to change ownership in October, and the new owners promise to keep the same food, including the soup recipes.