The latest chapter of a city’s struggle to control troublesome businesses takes Whistleblower to the Roundup Beer Hall.

Everyone has seen this place while driving by on 35W. The sign with the big cowboy boot beckons on a gritty corner of East Lake Street in Minneapolis. Today, the Minneapolis City Council approved a settlement between city code enforcers and the bar. The Roundup Beer Hall will give up its licenses on April 30. Apparently cold beers weren’t the only things on the menu board. Police informants bought drugs in the bar six times between November and January. The last buy culminated with a police raid on Jan. 13. “During the search, Minneapolis Police allegedly found drugs behind the bar and determined that an employee was the party conducting the drug sales,” the city’s report stated. The city also noted that an inspection on Dec. 18 revealed that the bar’s security was inadequate, in violation of a 1999 agreement.

The Minneapolis police search warrant affidavit described the bar this way: “This bar has a long history of being the source of numerous complaints involving narcotics sales and prostitution. These complaints have been ongoing for several years even though police presence and pressure has caused it to temporarily close on one occasion.” The warrant described cocaine being sold in the bathroom or right over the bar.

I tried to reach Sandra Wallick of SanMar Inc., the company that holds the licenses, but she hasn’t gotten back to me.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 27th, 2009 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Businesses in hot water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.