WAUSAU, WI (WSAU) — A local sports bar is facing a license revocation after a complaint was filed by a City Patrol Captain.
Tuesday evening Wausau’s Public Health and Safety Committee considered a complaint against Roc’s Place to revoke or suspend their Class B Beer & Liquor License. The complaint was filed by Wausau Police Patrol Captain Todd Baeten and recommends the license be suspended or revoked for violating Wisconsin Statutes and Municipal Code.
The complaint alleges that Roc’s Place violates Wisconsin Statute 125.12(2) 2 which lets a municipality revoke a license for disorderly, riotous, indecent, or improper behavior. At Public Health and Safety’s Meeting, Wausau Police Chief Ben Bliven says there are multiple concerns with Roc’s Place unruly behavior.
“There’s been a lot of fights. So the complaint indicates that since January of 2019 we’ve had 15 complaints or incidents concerning fights inside the license premises or in the parking lot. Five of those involved weapons or the threat of weapons.
“There’s been noise complaints at the establishment. Medical emergencies where a woman was found vomiting and in and out of consciousness. There’s issues with liquor being outside the establishment. And just a generally unruly behavior,”.
The complaint documents 24 incidents reported at Roc’s Place over the past two and a half years. But Bliven says an incident from February of this year sparked the official complaint filing.
“There was a large fight in the parking lot. Report of a firearm being involved in that fight. When we went to get video from the establishment, there was a gap in the video. So we didn’t actually get the video for the incident when the bar provided us that video.
“We had to go back and get it because we realized the piece where the fight had occurred was actually missing in that video. So that indicated a lack of cooperation from the establishment as well,”.
Following the brief overview of the complaint against Roc’s Place from Chief Bliven, Committee Chair Lisa Rasmussen noted that this wasn’t the first time the bar had been under question by the Committee. Roc’s Place owner Timothy Nawrocki appeared before the committee in June of 2020 for a formal expression of concern about the establishment.
Due to strict State Statutes regarding license revocation or suspension, the Committee only considered the complaint to schedule a hearing for Roc’s Place to show cause why their license should not be revoked or suspended. The Committee did unanimously agree to hold a hearing for Timothy Nawrocki.
The hearing was scheduled for Wednesday May 5th at 5:30 p.m. in the Council Chambers at City Hall. The hearing is expected to last between 2 to 3 hours depending on the number of witnesses and complaint discussion.
