Gubernatorial candidate goes to bat for Blue Moon

Republican gubernatorial candidate Neil Livingstone stumped at the Blue Moon Nite Club last week, claiming the establishment was the victim of a “great injustice.”

The Montana Department of Revenue told the establishment last year it was moving to revoke the Blue Moon’s liquor license, claiming staff there had served people who were intoxicated.

A fatal accident caused by a drunken driver who had been at the Blue Moon occurred on the same night as video evidence cited by the state.

Livingstone, however, claims the state was proceeding against Blue Moon owners Dick and Charlotte Sapa “without due process.”

“There’s been no hearing, no depositions,” he said.

And yet, he said, the state has been pressuring the Sapas to sell their liquor license — a couple who have been in business for 40 years.

“That’s government at its worse,” he said.

Nineteen-year-old Lakeisha Thibault, of Eureka, was killed Feb. 12, 2010, about 1 a.m. while driving south on U.S. 2 near Conn Road, about a mile south of the Blue Moon. A Montana Highway Patrol investigation determined that a 28-year-old Columbia Falls man, Tyrone Stallcup, was intoxicated when the southbound pickup he was driving hit Thibault’s car, sending both vehicles into the ditch.

According to the investigation, Stallcup started drinking at the Bandit Bar in Columbia Falls and then went to the Blue Moon, witnesses told trooper Glenn Barcus.

The report also used video evidence that showed a “large number of intoxicated patrons, including some that had difficulty stumbling around the bar, that were served alcoholic beverages at every request with no consideration being taken into account regarding their condition.” Barcus noted that the videos showed nobody was removed from the bar, and there were no bouncers in the parking lot preventing people from driving away.

But Livingstone and Charlotte Sapa said last week said none of the video evidence shows Stallcup was ever in the bar or was even served.

“I think someone is after this liquor license,” Livingstone said. “This smacks of corruption to me.”

The Sapas and five other employees have been cited for illegally serving alcohol to an intoxicated person. All seven pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge. The bond request on the citations was $535.

Charlotte and Dick both claim they don’t even work behind the bar. The case will likely go to a jury trial, Charlotte said last week.

Michael Lawlor, an attorney for the Department of Revenue, said the seven citations for serving an intoxicated person are criminal cases separate from the department’s revocation hearing, which is an administrative proceeding. The department is not bound to the outcome of the seven criminal cases, he noted.

A revocation hearing is expected this year, Lawlor said. The Sapas, however, can appeal the ruling.