Sunday, December 26, 2010

Milligan to allow 2 a.m. Bar Closings - is Exeter next?

In October, the Village of Milligan became the second community in Fillmore County to pass the 2 a.m. bar closing allowed by LB 861.
 
The bill, introduced by District 32 Representative Russ Karpisek, requires that two-thirds of the governing board of a community approve the additional one hour extension. The Village Board of Milligan passed the bill unanimously.
Milligan Village Chairman Eric Milton saw the measure as business decision. “We had a business approach us and my opinion was to allow the businesses to make that decision for themselves. There were certain circumstances or certain things they wanted to stay open that late for. I don’t see that this will be relevant a lot of the time,” said Milton.

Elaine Korbelik, owner of Ron’s Tavern in downtown Milligan doesn’t have plans to invoke the new 2 a.m. closing. “I don’t know of anything right now. Maybe for some special occasion or something. At least we have the option, but so far we have no plans of doing it yet,” said Korbelik.

The other regular establishment in Milligan is Evening With Friends which is owned by Jon and Stephanie Nichols. Jon was interested in the time extension, “Times are going to go that way eventually. It most likely will only come into play on Friday’s and Saturday’s. I think it’s an opportunity for us to expand our business.”

As Nichols sees it, “In a rural location you are more of a destination rather than a rolling by point. Customers need the chance to have a place to stay.”

Milligan Village Board member Steve Briske felt, “It should be allowable for the people that wanted to use it.”
So far, the Exeter Village Board has not been approached with any requests for time extensions. 

John Graham, owner of John E’s is looking into bringing the issues before the Exeter Village Board. “We are looking at going before the Village Board after the New Year to ask about the 2 a.m. opening but we would only use it for special occasions and have no intention of staying open until 2 a.m. regularly.

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