The events leading up tO the closing of the Palace Bar
Timeline of Events
1. Welcome to the first blog. This one encompasses all the events leading up to the closing of the Palace at the end of June, 2022. Future blogs will be much smaller. My goal is to put out one or two a week, but with your help, input and ideas that could change.
2. On the morning of March 18, 2022, a patron inside of The Palace Bar discharged a gun inside of the bar. No one was injured during the shooting. At this point we became victims of a serious crime.
3. I have been a business owner for 46 years and have never had a similar incident like this occur before.
4. This incident has now impacted both my professional and personal life. It has also impacted the lives of my staff and customers that were present for the shooting and their families, children, and friends.
5. The incident was reported on multiple TV and radio stations as well as the local papers.
Exhibit A
6. I am aware that a story of this seriousness should be reported on, and I am not complaining, but it was not easy to see my business depicted in this light.
7. On March 22, 2022, the pictures of the accused relating to the shooting were released on the Douglas County inmate roster.
Exhibit B
8. The accused had turned themselves into the police and therefore had not spent any time in jail. The male accused of shooting the firearm was released on bail after 1 hour and 44 minutes. The second male accused was released on bail after 23 minutes. This made my heart sink. I cannot comprehend how they were allowed to be released so quickly. This information was not reported in any news reports and no public statement was made by the Mayor, Chief of Police or City Attorney.
9. On March 23, 2022, I received a letter from the Douglas County District Attorney Victim/Witness Services in regard to the shooting incident. I then telephoned their office and spoke to a very nice woman to express my outrage regarding the accused bail. I explained to her that if any one of the accused injures someone while they are out on bail it would fall on the justice dept. I feel as though we need to go back in time to when the judicial system valued the safety of its citizens and not the coddling of criminals. We are innocent victims of a crime and feel as though we are living a daily nightmare while they spend minimal time in jail, less than most movies run for.
10. As the victim of a crime, it is preposterous to me that the accused can be released on bail which could put citizen’s safety at risk.
11. On March 29, 2022, the two accused of the shooting incident were charged. Once again, this was reported all over the news. Again, I understand that this is a story that should be reported but the negative publicity took a mental toll on myself as there is only so much a person and a business can sustain.
Exhibit C
12. On April 12, 2022, I received a letter via email from the mayor of Superior, Mayor Paine. I was stunned when I read the content of the email and it left me very confused. A couple of days later I received the same letter through the mail and then a few days after that I received the same letter by registered mail. I have never experienced receiving the same letter this many times.
Exhibit D
13. In the letter, Mayor Paine states that there was an increase of incidents at The Palace Bar since 2020 which is factual. There had been a large increase in sales due to COVID as the bars in Minnesota were closed for a long period of time during the pandemic. Our customer base went from 27,000 to 100,00 essentially overnight. Bars around the city's north end also experienced the same fluctuation in customers. This is due to the north end of the city being close to the main bridges into Duluth, MN. At the time we were made aware by the police that an increase in incidents was happening all over the city but was heaviest in the north end, otherwise referred to as “downtown”.
14. In the letter Mayor Paine discusses battery on our bartenders which is factual. One incident stemmed from three underage girls coming into The Palace Bar and subsequently ordering drinks. Our bartender asked the girls for identification, and they were unable to provide any. Our bartender than asked the girls to leave the bar. It was at this point the three girls assaulted my bartender. The police were called to the bar and incident information was gathered. Another incident was on a Sunday afternoon where a couple was sitting at the bar. A second couple came in the bar and the woman immediately walked up to the woman sitting at the bar and began to hit her which incited a fight. Our bartender requested that one of the males break up the fight and they both refused. Our bartender then tried to break up the fight which at that point one of the males jumped him. Again, the police were called, and the second couple were never arrested.
15. A customer by definition is ‘a person or organization that buys goods and services from a store or a business. As the underage girls and the second couple that initiated the fights never purchased anything from The Palace Bar, this would not make them customers as Mayor Paine alleges.
16. The letter from Mayor Paine portrays my bar in a way that is not entirely based on reality or facts. I admit that we have had our fair share of incidents, but I do not believe that on a per customer or sales metric that they are any different from other bars in the city. When calculating both statistics the number is less than one percent. I am not attempting to downplay the seriousness of the incidents. Within the letter Mayor Paine did not request a meeting with me. I have never met Mayor Paine, the Chief of Police, or the City Attorney.
17. After receiving the Mayor’s letter, I emailed my lawyer, Parrish Jones, and requested that he call me. I spoke with Parrish at length, and he stated that he would contact the city and speak to them. He advised me not to speak to the mayor, city council, etc. until he spoke to them and reassured me that I had nothing to worry about because the issue could be solved.
18. About a week or so after speaking to Parrish, I received insight from two separate people that Mayor Paine was mad because I had not reached out to him. I then contacted Parrish and told him that I would be happy to meet with the mayor to which Parrish told me the mayor refused to do so. There was no indication in the Mayor’s letter that he wanted to meet with me.
19. After reading the Mayor’s letter, I spoke with my wife, and said that I felt there was more at play than meets the eye. I felt as though the letter was too personal and angry for two people who have never met each other. It read like a letter that someone would write after meeting someone and having a bad experience. When I shared my thoughts with Parrish he did not agree and said that it was just ‘the mayor being the mayor’.
20. On April 22, 2022, it has been about ten days since I received the three identical letters from the mayor. I had not received any correspondence from my lawyer during that time and then I received an email from him. The email read “I had a chat with the city attorney about this and he says it’s serious and we better meet with the city and get yelled at. I’ll fill you in on the details of what you can expect from this work out.”
21. After receiving the email from Parrish, I felt as though we have now gone from a situation whereby, we would meet with the mayor and explain our position in order to come to an agreement on how to move forward, to the city wanting to proceed with the mayor’s wishes. At this point I still had never spoken to or met the mayor or any other city official to explain my side of the story.
22. On May 11, 2022, not much had happened or been discussed since April 22, 2022. I spoke with Parrish a few times and it seemed that the mayor felt as though there was no reason to speak or meet. At this point the city had not presented anything to us in order to provide a solution to the issue. I then decided to write Parrish a letter so that he could discuss it with the city.
Exhibit E
23. I had several reasons for writing the letter. One reason was maintaining our staff and providing them with a platform to continue to earn the money they were accustomed to making. I did not like the idea of our staff being punished for something that the mayor may think was our fault. All of these ideas about cutting hours and the rest of it made no sense. Do keep in mind that we did not do anything wrong, and we were all victims of crime. The second reason was plain and simple, money. It seemed as though we were getting nowhere, and the possibility of a lawsuit was something that may occur and as that process is lengthy and expensive, I wanted to avoid it at all costs. The third reason was to see if the city and the mayor were serious about coming to a resolution.
24. On May 18, 2202, I received a response from Parrish.
Exhibit F
25. My initial thought after reading this email was ‘you have got to be kidding me!’. At that bar, (Lady Vi’s), the owner and the management are being accused of human trafficking, drugs, and guns. The city wanted us to close for four months and adhere to certain conditions. Myself, my wife, and our staff are being accused of something that we are not involved in i.e., illegal activities. The city wanting to take away our license was far worse than any monetary penalty. At this point I was becoming more and more convinced that there was something else to this. I don’t think they are serious about anything other than taking away our license. We did not commit any crimes; we are victims of a crime. At this point it had been 36 days since we received the three identical letters from the mayor and I have not once spoke to the mayor, the city attorney or the Chief of Police. I am not making any judgment on lady Vi’s. I did know much about their situation, but I don’t see the comparison between us and them.
26. Shortly after the mayor’s three identical letters the police conducted unannounced checks on 6 out of the 8 weekend nights between April and May 2022. To me the worst part of this was that the police never spoke to any of my staff members about why they were present or what they wanted. Do keep in mind, we always had a very good rapport with the police up until this point. The staff and I all felt as though we have been betrayed by their sudden cone of silence and didn’t understand why the police would not speak to us. Over time our staff had developed a good working relationship with the police and were now being given the cold shoulder. Although the police will show up for unannounced visits from time to time, this was over the top. This is when I began to suspect that whatever was happening had been coordinated by upper management.
27. At this point I began feeling as follows:
- What is really going on here? We are victims of a crime and are being treated as though we are guilty of one.
- When the police show up unannounced about half of our customers would leave which cost us business but more importantly made for a very uncomfortable environment. Even our customers felt as though they were being harassed by the police among other things.
- The Chief of Police has said during his interviews that the police had come in about 100 to 150 times in the two-year period 2020 to 2022. My best guess is that about three quarters or more of these were their unannounced visits. Essentially if you want to make a business look bad, you will consistently visit unannounced and use it against the business.
- If you refer to the three letters sent by the mayor, the only real statistic he used is that there were five incidents that have been classified as battery by the police department which spans over a two-year period. During the two-year period we did well over a million dollars in sales and had approximately 145,696 customer contacts. Using these numbers, our rate of serious incidents would be less than 1%. In the five years I have owned The Palace Bar, we have never received a ticket, fine, warning or anything of the sort from any level government or police department.
- We were told to “Call the Police”, don’t try & get in the middle of a situation. We also had a “banned” book. This book contained the pictures of people not welcome on our premises plus why they were banned. We were proactive with the unsavory characters who came round.
28. On May 18, 2022, I received a copy of the May 17 Agenda for Regular Common
Council Meeting. This was the start of the process to not renew our license as stated in section 10.3 of the document.
Exhibit H
29. On May 19, 2022, I received a summons from the city.
Exhibit I
30. Accompanying the summons was an email from Parrish.
Exhibit J
31. On May 20, 2022, we met with Parrish to discuss the case. During the meeting I informed him I would also like to pursue selling the company to one of my employees, Jordan Wheat. Note: More on this on later blogs.
32. On May 20, 2022, someone we know said that councilman, Mark Johnson, would like to speak with me about the bar. I said that I would be happy to speak to him since I had not yet spoken to anyone from the city. Mark said he would be out of town for the weekend and to call him the following week.
33. On May 20,2022, I sent an email to Parrish.
Exhibit K
34. At this point it had been 20 days that I had not had any form of contact from the mayor, Chief of Police, or city attorney. I noticed that they had been careful and had not accused us of any wrongdoing publicly. I think the reason for that is because we were following all the procedures that they had recommended to do over the years and the police would then have to blame themselves as well. I am not blaming the police for these crimes, I blame it on the criminals.
35. On May 23, 2022, I called Mark Johnson and left him a voicemail.
36. On May 23, 2022, I received an email from Parrish. Parrish states that now, Jordan (the potential buyer) needs to be a part of this deal. It seemed odd to me that the mayor, who instigated this ordeal would not be present. I was unsure as to why it had to be when the mayor was not available, and could not have been held when he was. We are available seven days a week and could have attended any time that suited all parties. At this point it was becoming more obvious to me that something deeper was going on.
Exhibit L
37. On May 24, 2022, we attended the meeting with the Chief of Police, another police officer, the city attorney, Parrish, Jordan, a city clerk, my wife and myself. The mayor was not present. To me the meeting felt more like a coup, a beat down, and/or a set up and it was a complete and utter joke. I came fully prepared with charts, security plans and other documentation to aid the explanation of my position and to allow all parties to come to a mutual resolution. However, it was evident from early in the meeting that a resolution was not going to happen. To summarize the meeting, no matter how much I tried to present my case to them, all I was receiving back were blanket statements such as ‘the mayor is unhappy’, ‘the mayor is mad’, ‘the mayor’s feelings are hurt’, etc. I was never able to properly present any of my ideas for a resolution as they were not interested in having an honest conversation about the facts. This was the first time I had ever met or spoken to the Chief of Police and the city attorney. There were many other unwarranted statements made by them during the meeting that would be better discussed at a later time.
38. I felt as though it became clear that the fix was in. Since the day the mayor sent me the three identical letters, the city never presented me with any solutions that would allow me to keep my license. I feel as though it was because from day one there was never going to be a solution. The mayor seems to be hell bent on putting me out of business. Without a deal, the meeting in front of the city council on June 7,2022 would be nothing short of a waste of time. I believe it would be similar to the meeting on May 24, 2022, or worse. I do not care about the mayor’s feeling or thoughts, as a business owner I only care about the facts and truth.
39. On May 25, 2022, I received a telephone call from Mark Johnson in the morning. Mark stated that he had to speak with someone at the city in order get permission to speak with me. I was not sure what that meant but it sounded weird to me. After all, he does represent the district where I live. However, he sounded like a pleasant and reasonable guy and whilst we were getting acquainted, he said he had to take another call and would call me back later that day. Our call lasted approximately 20 minutes, but we had yet to discuss the bar. I have not heard from him to this day. This makes no sense to me as he was the one who reached out to speak to me.
40. On May 26, 2022, I received an email from Parrish.
Exhibit M
41. I responded to Parrish with two emails.
Exhibit N
42. I have obtained multiple police reports from that night including the police report of Officer Coffman who was the first officer on the scene and who took charge of the investigation.
Exhibit O
43. Following the incident on May 26, 2022, I received a telephone call from Jordan shortly after it had happened, and she stated that Officer Coffman told her that we had done everything right and that the shooting did not take place on or behind the bar property. Our security camera footage did not pick up the shooting and neither did the security camera footage from the business next door who’s cameras go further down the alley. No gun casings were found on or behind the bar property. The shooting took place in the alley between the business next door to us and The Cobblestone Hotel. The situation could have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for the fast reactions of our bartender and one of our customers.
44. On May 26, 2022, at 4:40PM, just before all of the local TV station newscasts go on air for their nightly news there was a press release.
Exhibit P
45. Following this press release, I emailed Parrish.
Exhibit Q
46. This story blew up in the local tv news and papers that night. The news essentially just regurgitated what the untruthful press release said. The news did no investigation of their own and never contacted me. I guess that all police press releases are taken on face value. Note: more about our local press in later blogs.
47. The press release mentioned The Palace bar a total of five times. The shooting occurred in an alley between the Cobblestone Hotel and the Tap On Tower (which was closed at the time), the hotel was only mentioned once, and the bar was not mentioned at all. The shooter, Todd Peterson, spent less than 48 hours in jail. To me this was another let down by the justice system and there was no comment from the mayor, Chief of Police, and the city attorney.
48. Douglas County Jail Roster.
Exhibit R
49. On May 27, 2022, I received an email from Parrish.
Exhibit S
50. Within a 24-hour timeline since the shooting it seemed like the city became the judge, the jury, and the executioner. This confirmed to me what I had suspected upon receipt of the initial letter from the mayor. I felt as though he had an agenda and I realized we were never going to come to an agreement. It appears they had purposely let the clock run out and there was no reason to meet them on June 7th without a deal in hand. One of my employees was made aware from a high ranking official that the outcome of the meeting was a forgone conclusion. We were not going to get our license.
51. On May 30, 2022, I spoke to Parrish, and we mutually agreed that the meeting on June 7th would be a waste of time. Instead, we decided that I should not try and renew the license and proceed to sell the business instead.
52. On June 1, 2022, Parrish sent a letter to the city to inform them of our decision not to renew our license.
Exhibit T
53. On June 2, 2022, I received an email from Parrish.
Exhibit U
54. I responded to Parrish by email that same day.
Exhibit V
55. After reading the email from Parrish I had a lot of thoughts. I felt as though the mayor had somewhat lost his mind and he had become obsessive over our license. I didn’t understand why he was so hung up on my business. I have always followed the law while owning Shorty’s and the Palace. I didn’t understand why he would think that we would just become criminals and allow illegal gambling. There is not a separate license for gaming, it is exclusive to having a liquor license. The mayor could have easily spoken to someone in the licensing department and looked for himself.
56. On June 6, 2022, I asked my General Manager, Jordan Wheat, to go to city hall and retrieve a copy of the police report from the May 26th ‘alleged shooting’ incident at the Palace. The city clerk informed her that she was unable to release the report to Jordan because the incident was still under investigation.
57. However, the city clerk was not aware that I already had a copy of the police report that I received on May 26th. I wanted to see if the report had been updated or changed because at this point, I felt as though I could not trust anyone. What I fail to understand is that if the incident was still under investigation, then how come the mayor, Chief of Police and the city attorney single handily shut down my business, which was only hours after the shooting incident.
FINAL THOUGHTS
58. As of June 15, 2022, it was two weeks until we would close the Palace for good. I do not understand how this can happen in America. My wife and I have worked hard all of our lives just to have our livelihood pulled out from under us. Our business has been stolen by an unprofessional and essentially unhinged mayor along with a much too eager Chief of Police and city attorney. I have said since the day I received the mayor’s letter it felt extremely personal. Most people would not receive a letter from the mayor of their city with so many distortions, lies and exaggerations unless you had a personal relationship with that person or you have another motive. To this day I have never met the mayor.
59. It is my belief that an investigation of the mayor, the Chief of Police, the city attorney, and the city council should be conducted immediately. This should never happen in America. If I was charged with speeding or jaywalking, I would still be given the opportunity to speak in front of a judge. I was never given this opportunity; I was never able to explain or discuss their concerns in a professional manner.
60. I have also said from day one that I feel as though this mayor had an agenda. I have an idea of what his agenda may be, and I am reluctant to discuss it at this point until I have more information and I am actively working on piecing that together. I believe that this is why an investigation should be conducted. If I am right about what I think it is, it would paint the mayor as a tyrannical leader who does not think that the law or government processes apply to him and that he can just pick and choose who can and cannot run a business in his jurisdiction.
61. The news coverage about The Palace has been absolutely ridiculous, disgusting and unprofessional in my opinion. The two local newspapers, the Duluth Tribune and the Superior Telegram, have never once contacted myself to discuss my side of the story. Both newspapers have my contact details. They have essentially cut and pasted exactly what the police press releases and the mayors’ statements said with no investigation of their own or follow up. The local television coverage was no better.
62. I have recently spoke to one of my regular customers who I have known for years. We are both avid news readers. For example, I subscribe to five newspapers, and he subscribes to three. During my 15 years in Superior there have been three murders tied to three different bars. I asked him if I was being biased or paranoid about the amount of reporting around the Palace in the past two months and felt like there was less media coverage around the murders combined. My customer’s response was ‘not even close’. None of those bars have lost their licenses, and they are all still open. And by the way, I am not advocating that they should lose them.
63. I have always been an advocate for the police, but I am very conflicted right now. I still have respect for the police who must deal with criminals on a daily basis, but I do not feel the same way when it comes to their management and leadership, as they have, in my opinion politicized their position. When I met with the Chief of Police, he stated that he does not like shutting down businesses. I felt as though this statement was false, as he was the person who signed the letter to not renew our license. My wife made a point that if the Chief of Police and the city attorney were against shutting down a business then why did they agree to it.
64. As usual, my staff bears the brunt of these situations. They have had to enforce the laws that the police, the justice system and others have not been able to maintain themselves. My staff are not trained police officers, they don’t carry guns, they don’t have the jurisdiction to make arrests, they cannot formally charge someone, they do not have rights to set bail and they cannot decide on criminal sentencing.
65. However, if something goes wrong our staff and us are the first to blame. Our staff have been put through hell since the initial shooting and now have been deeply affected by how the mayor recklessly conducts himself. When the Palace closes its doors for the final time, they will lose their jobs even though they have done nothing wrong. One of my staff members, Krystina, wrote a letter she planned to read at the meeting on June 7.
Exhibit W
66. Our customers are just as outraged at this situation. They know the bar is not the same bar that the media, the mayor, the Chief of Police and the city attorney are painting a picture of. Now they will have one less place to enjoy themselves.
67. Leadership and power go hand in hand and should be treated with humility and caution. When you are in a position of leadership, you inherit a certain kind of power. It does not matter if you are a department head, a CEO, a business owner or a mayor, your decisions will affect others.
68. It is very unclear as to who is in charge here. Is it the mayor, Chief of Police, or city attorney? The mayor wrote the initial letter, the Chief of Police submitted the paperwork to deny our license and the city attorney denied any kind of deal to be made. I believe that this shows how unqualified the mayor is to be in the position he is in. It shows that he has no leadership skills. The most important quality a leader should have is the ability to listen to both sides of a situation and come to a fair and just conclusion.
69. When presented with a situation, you will always have an initial reaction, but it does not mean you should act on that reaction. You should give it a good amount of thought. In my personal life, I have learned that my initial reaction has been incorrect about 70% of the time. The mayor never reached out to me, contacted me, or met me but has now concluded to close my bar.
70. On June 10, 2022, the mayor was quoted in the Superior Telegram stating, ‘I’m glad it resolved the way that it did’. I cannot see what has made the mayor so happy. Was it the fact that he closed my business? We were victims of a crime. We have never been accused of a crime, charged for a crime or have been involved with a crime. We have worked very hard, paid our taxes, put money into the economy and created many jobs in Superior in the past 15 years. Is the mayor happy that very soon my staff will be losing their income? Is the mayor happy that thousands of customers (both regular and casual) will lose one of their coveted spots in town to visit?
71. We have never been told what we did wrong, we know the accused criminals have done something wrong. The mayor’s actions will likely cause an effect across other businesses. Bars will become reluctant to work with the police and will most likely steer clear of calling them when an incident occurs which will likely have less than favorable outcomes. Any business, especially in Duluth and the surrounding areas will think twice before expanding or moving their companies to Superior and who could blame them? The city already has a very public reputation for not being business friendly and this is just another example of that.
72. The mayor seems to hide behind the façade that the city will be ‘safer’. Clearly, he needs to speak to his police officers. The police told us that all you are doing is pushing the problem down the road. The mayor has a clear disdain for our customers as he implied in his original letter. The mayor failed to realize that many of these customers are his constituents.
73. The mayor is depriving the city, the state, and the federal government of thousands of tax dollars that we pay. He has cost people their jobs, suppliers their customers, business owners their livelihoods and customers somewhere to enjoy themselves. I suppose this is what makes him feel ‘glad’.
74. Criminals do not receive three separate letters from the mayor when they are arrested and charged. The mayor showed no outrage that these criminals spent next to no time in jail and were allowed out on minimal bail. I have never heard the mayor, the Chief of Police or the city attorney speak about criminals or crime in the press or in public forums.
Dated this 30th day of June 2022
UP NEXT
Recap and upcoming blog information
75. Well today is May 5, 2023, about 11 months since I first sat down to compile all this information. The next few blogs will address some of the points already made as new information has come to light. After that, we will start covering the events after July 1, 2022. Wait till you read what happened after we closed our doors! The next six months will really have you scratching your head!
Please email me at
painful54880@gmail.com with any comments or questions. Since I’ve never done a blog before, your input is important to me. Don’t forget to sign up on our home page to get alerts for the latest blog releases. New alerts will be posted on our Palace Bar Facebook page.
