Tom Migon, owner of The Keg of Evanston, reportededly has appealed the revocation of the bar’s liquor license by the city to the state liquor control commission.
Keg attorney Todd Stephens and owner Tom Migon at the Jan. 27 city liquor hearing.
Tom Migon, owner of The Keg of Evanston, reportededly has appealed the revocation of the bar’s liquor license by the city to the state liquor control commission.
The Daily Northwestern quotes Migon and his attorney, Todd Stephens, as confirming that the appeal had been filed.
The hearing was called after 17 people were arrested for underage drinking at the bar on Jan. 6, and the very next night police were able to make three more arrests there for the same offense.
City Attorney Grant Farrar also presented evidence from social media sites that the bar was widely believed to be a place where underage patrons could readily be served liquor, and argued that Migon had not taken sufficient steps to prove those claims wrong.
In her order revoking the bar’s license Jan. 30, Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl recounted a history of 147 citations issued at the business since 2005, including 111 for alcohol-related violations.
But she also said that, “The Keg, through its use of social media, expressly incited, encouraged, and assisted underage patrons in coming to The Keg and consuming alcohol.”
Since it was never established at the hearing that The Keg controlled any of the social media outlets cited by the city, some legal observers have suggested that that gap will form the basis of the bar’s appeal.
Good
I don't care much about what happens to the Keg, but I hope this becomes a major headache for the mayor and city attorneys who misrepresented the evidence, either intentionally or incompetently, when using government power to shut down someone's business.
Social media just icing on the cake
Let's see, 17 people arrested one night, 3 more the following night, and 111 citations for alcohol-related violations since 2005. No misrepresented evidence here.
Its over
No one from the City or government shut down The Keg. It is a restaurant with a liquor license. If the owner elected that it is not worth operating the restaurant without a liquor license, then that is the owner's decision. Liquor licenses are not business licenses.
Give Tom Migon his license back
Tom Migon is an honest hard working business man that has tried very hard for 19 years to stop underage drinkers coming into his establishment.. Not easy to do in a "College Town!" with all the internet, pc and printer technology available to anyone regardless of age.
The mayor erroneously made a decision based on bad info and not looking at the bigger picture. If you take the 111 alcohol related citations and divided it by 84 months (since 2005) that really just averages out to about 1 citation a month for underage drinking in a college town….big deal!….How many underage drinkers with fake ID's make it into "Rush Street Bars" in downtown Chicago every month? More than one or two that I can assure you.
If the State of Illinois is really serious about stopping underage drinking then the Secretary of State should provide all bars with real time online scanners (at no cost) that can check the issued state ID for validity.
Give Tom Migon his license back! It just seems very un-American to take a man's livelihood away for someone else's crime of using fake ID's for underage drinking.
Sell pot instead of liquor
Maybe he should sell pot? The mayor seems to have no issue with that illegal drug at any age! Granted, he should know better and this could have been corrected years ago, but I'm sure he can work something out with the mayor if he adds pot to the deal. OR… maybe only sell beer to minors at 1 ounce increments… since size of the illegal amount seems to make a difference to the mayor.
Ridiculous Decision
Evanston is part college town, and always has been. Northwestern students have been drinking underage forever, and every year still manage to graduate from one of the top universities in the country. There is no harm in it, and more importantly no way to stop it. Don't take away this man's livlihood because his staff occasionally misses a fake ID, which by the way are extremely advanced and easy to obtain today. Let the students have their fun–we don't need our mayor impersonating Frances Willard.
Underage drinking
So I know college students will always find a place to drink but the Keg has a history of violence and also of serving high school age students. A 21 year old I know said, upon hearing of the Keg's problems, "I didn't know anyone over 21 ever drank there!".
Keg has a bad track record
Our mayor may have misrepresented the facts but she dose that a lot. Her close friends, and other pot heads, thank her.
Despite the mayor, the keg has an unbelievable bad track record. Unless the keg hires better employees or installs equipment to find false identification cards, they should not get their liquor license back.
And the state does not care about this. If they did, they would require photo IDs for voting at the polling places. Illinois has a history of voter fraud and there is a lot of it going on in Evanston.
What voter fraud?
"…voter fraud…there is a lot of it going on in Evanston.". Huh? Skipw – I have worked as a judge of elections, as well as an election coordinator. I have yet go see anything I would characterize as voter fraud in the polling precincts where I was stationed in town. Please share what it is that you are referring to. Is someone(s) illegally registering voters? Are there people who are voting while using someone else's credentials? Are the pols here paying people on the streets to come in to the polling places and vote for the dead? Is there something wrong with our election equipment? And if any of those – and you actually have the information about it – have you shared it with Clerk Greene, or better yet, the County Clerk's Office? They are both very good at and vigilant in administering our election process, and can quickly respond to voter fraud. Or are you referring to something else, altogether?
Voter Fraud
I will give 2 examples and be done with it. The county clerk doesn't care about voter fraud unless one of his political party loses a close election
Cook County – If you read the papers, you would be aware that an estimate of over 50,000 people voted illegally in Crook county during the last presidential election. Many of these people appeared to be illegal immigrants who were able to register using false documents. Apparently the county does not crosscheck SSAN against the federal database. Many others were able to vote using false addresses
Evanston – A couple of elections ago, there were over 200 absentee ballots, about 90 in one ward, that were counted. These were mostly legal addresses but the people did not live there. Some even claimed to live at candidate’s addresses. My understanding is that none of the discovered illegal voting would have changed any outcomes. The losing candidates that found these problems did not ask for a thorough recount and discovery because of the costs of doing so.
It appears that Evanston cannot be excluded from the massive voter fraud that is famous in Illinois.
A friend of mine actually put it in his will that he be buried in Cook County so he could continue voting after his death. In addition, he said he preferred to be buried in Chicago, if possible, so he could vote several times in each election. This may appear to be a joke but it is true.
For the most part, I believe that the vast majority of front line election judges are honest and very pleasant to work with. I have seen election judges that show up late for work. In a couple of cases, I have seen judges that show up at work for a hour or two, leave for an errand, and come back at 5 – 6 pm.
Photo IDs would go a long way toward curbing voter fraud in Illinois. They would need to use SSAN verification to make it work to its fullest. For some reason Illinois government officials do not want fair elections.
Have any of you been in the Keg?
I live across the street and deal with the noise after the bar closes.
What concerned me are taxis that let the kids out on Grove Street prior to Elmwood and Saturday night 10 taxis are dropping them off. Credit for taking a taxi but getting out one block from the bar is a red flag.
One Saturday night we decided to see what was going on. Arrived early and the place is really gross. I like a dive bars but it really had a bad smell, urines belong in Cuba and everything is old. No money has been put in this bar in the past 20 years.
Bartender was friendly, huge bouncer hung out at the bar talking with us and again really nice. I think the nice comments on the staff are dead on.
What happened next was amazing, at 10 PM, the line to get in the place was out of control. It was 50 people long all pushing to get in. I wish I took a picture. This was not a Northwestern crowd but a High School crowd. The average age getting in was 18. I didn’t see the Evanston Police records but I am sure they will confirm with the arrests. The bouncer checked that each person had an ID but I didn’t deny anybody entrance.
By 11:15 the crowd around the bar was 20 people deep, probably 70 people screaming to get their plastic beer mug filled and all paying cash. Yes, CASH!!
I now know why Tom Migon was living the good life at the Keg. He is a straight out liar that he didn’t know about the underage High School Crowd.
I will put money that one North Shore girl got more sex than their parents wanted and came down on the Mayor. The kids went to the car for make out at 2 AM. It is pretty gross to see a condemns on Elmwood Ave.
Northwestern needs a dive bar for after sports events so make him sell. I am sure he cooked the books, never reported half of the sales so he won’t get much for the place.
Have any of you been in the Keg?
I live across the street and deal with the noise after the bar closes.
What concerned me are taxis that let the kids out on Grove Street prior to Elmwood and Saturday night 10 taxis are dropping them off. Credit for taking a taxi but getting out one block from the bar is a red flag.
One Saturday night we decided to see what was going on. Arrived early and the place is really gross. I like a dive bars but it really had a bad smell, urines belong in Cuba and everything is old. No money has been put in this bar in the past 20 years.
Bartender was friendly, huge bouncer hung out at the bar talking with us and again really nice. I think the nice comments on the staff are dead on.
What happened next was amazing, at 10 PM, the line to get in the place was out of control. It was 50 people long all pushing to get in. I wish I took a picture. This was not a Northwestern crowd but a High School crowd. The average age getting in was 18. I didn’t see the Evanston Police records but I am sure they will confirm with the arrests. The bouncer checked that each person had an ID but I didn’t deny anybody entrance.
By 11:15 the crowd around the bar was 20 people deep, probably 70 people screaming to get their plastic beer mug filled and all paying cash. Yes, CASH!!
I now know why Tom Migon was living the good life at the Keg. He is a straight out liar that he didn’t know about the underage High School Crowd.
I will put money that one North Shore girl got more sex than their parents wanted and came down on the Mayor. The kids went to the car for make out at 2 AM. It is pretty gross to see a condemns on Elmwood Ave.
Northwestern needs a dive bar for after sports events so make him sell. I am sure he cooked the books, never reported half of the sales so he won’t get much for the place.