Bar's liquor license in jeopardy; owners making changes

Even before their liquor license was in jeopardy, Gene and Karen Fairl knew they had to do something about the clientele their little east Carson City bar was attracting.

On Thursday, city supervisors were told sheriff's deputies had gone to Fairl's 138 times since August. Two felony and 11 misdemeanor arrests were made in that time. Stolen vehicles were recovered. The calls often involved fights and weapons.

Supervisors gave the city's treasurer permission to investigate the Fairls to determine if there are grounds to revoke their liquor license.

Gene Fairl said the loss of the license would be devastating.

"I'd die," he said Monday from his empty saloon on Highway 50 East. "I put every penny I had into this place. If I lost the liquor license, we'd be on welfare."

"We'd lose our home," Karen added.

The couple, married 36 years, was living in Sacramento when they decided to make a change in 2004. One day, they drove through Carson City and saw the K-Bar. Gene said he stopped and asked the bartender if he knew of any bars for sale in the area, and the bartender said the K-Bar was being sold.

So they poured everything they had - about $100,000 - into it, and changed the name to Fairl's County Bar. But that didn't draw too many people inside.

"I couldn't even pay the liquor bill, business was so bad," he said.

He dropped "Country Bar" from the name and switched to a hip-hop disc jockey.

The customers came in droves.

But within the droves, Gene soon realized, there was trouble. Fights broke out. People with fake IDs were sneaking in. The cops were being called more and more.

"Now there's no more hip-hop, and I fired the whole DJ crew," he said. He also hired new bartenders and security. Identification will be checked on anyone who passes through the door. A side entrance, which had become a way for the underaged to sneak in, will be used only in case of emergency. Drug use has never been tolerated, he said, false identification will be confiscated.

On Friday night, Fairl's head security officer denied entrance to a group of 15 who had out-of-state licenses and seemed a little rowdy.

"I don't want the bad element here," Gene said, standing before newly remodeled walls. "If they are gonna cause trouble, they need to go across town."

He put in a stage to prepare for live music. Singer Robin Turley and the band Bad Intent have agreed to play there. Gene is putting down new floors, and plans in the next few months to redo the building's rundown outside.

Already, there are new faces in the place - a slightly older crowd that is more respectful, he said.

At 66 years old, Gene noted, with a slight Oklahoma twang, this is the only job he's going to have.

"We've been working on getting stuff done for over a month," he said. "Maybe it was not enough that the city could see it yet."

-- Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.