An Oregon Liquor Control Commission investigation into Bend’s only strip club found police were called there about once a month over the course of two years for “serious and persistent” problems, including assaults, drunken driving, fighting, threats of violence and drug crimes.

The findings led the OLCC to issue Stars Cabaret a warning notice in late January, telling its owners their liquor license could be at risk if problems continued.

“They are under close supervision,” said Bend-based OLCC Regional Manager Jason Evers. “They are under the microscope, and, believe me, it takes just a few serious incidents to go from a warning to a ticket.”

“And, in the grand scheme of things, these are probably the rarest type of tickets that we issue just because the proposed sanction is license cancellation.”

The nearly two dozen serious and persistent problems were enough to prompt the OLCC to issue the warning, but the agency’s review of Deschutes County 911 records shows those were among more than 400 calls for police assistance to Stars Cabaret on Northeast Third Street from January 2007 through December 2008, reporting a range of offenses from trespassing to kidnapping.

But many of those calls were either considered minor issues, could not be directly linked to the nightclub or were unsubstantiated, Evers said.

Stars owner Randy Kaiser doesn’t deny that the nightclub has had problems, but says any establishment that sells alcohol to the volume of customers the Bend club has can expect some difficulties.

“I don’t want to be categorized as a bad operator because that would be an injustice,” he said. “There are reasons for high call volume. Perhaps we are the most popular establishment in Bend.”

Kaiser says the two other Stars locations he co-owns — in Beaverton and Salem — sell significantly more alcohol than the Bend location, yet neither has had major issues with police or the OLCC. And Kaiser said he regularly checks in with police and the OLCC to address problems and seek feedback about the Bend Stars.

The OLCC report generated after the Bend investigation supports Kaiser’s claim. It notes a lack of OLCC action against the club.

The OLCC inquiry into the Bend club was spurred when Kaiser applied for a liquor license in hopes of opening a fourth club in Tualatin. The City Council there has unanimously recommended against the permit based, in part, on the findings of the Bend investigation.

Tualatin Mayor Lou Ogden said the proposed Stars location, close to children-oriented facilities and family-friendly businesses, is not appropriate, and that the drain on police resources alone is reason enough to deny the liquor license.

“Our taxpayers don’t want to pay for extra police for one business,” Ogden said. “And if our police are taking care of that one business, they can’t take care of home break-ins, robberies or any other calls that come in.”

Ogden said the city will rely heavily on evidence gathered during the Bend investigation to show OLCC officials that the Tualatin liquor license should be denied.

But Kaiser says the relatively problem-free records of the Beaverton and Salem locations should not be ignored.

“The fact of the matter is, whether you accept it or not, there is a different mentality here in Bend,” Kaiser said. “It’s a different culture, and I can’t explain it.”

Local authorities say the Bend Stars does require an inordinate amount of their time and resources.

“There is not another establishment inside the city of Bend that we are responsible for responding to that has the high number of calls that Stars has,” said Bend police Capt. Jim Porter, head of the department’s patrol division.

The OLCC investigation report details some of the more serious calls Porter’s officers handled during the two years in question. They show regular brawls outside the club and bouncers getting rough with patrons, and the reports repeatedly refer to “highly intoxicated” or “extremely intoxicated” individuals.

In one instance, police say a man offended a dancer by leaving her “coin change” as a tip. She then bit him on the neck, according to police, prompting a comment “that he would probably get some disease from her.”

The woman then slapped the customer, and he was ousted from the club. When he got outside, another customer “tackled the man and stabbed him numerous times,” the report said.

Investigators later found drugs in the victim’s car. The stabber was arrested and is scheduled to go to trial on an attempted murder charge in October.

Other incidents noted by the OLCC include seven fights, three physical altercations with bouncers, three customers threatening Stars employees with gun violence and two assaults — one that happened when a customer climbed on stage and punched a dancer in the face.

Kaiser said part of the problem stems from customers who come to his club as their last stop after a night of drinking at other bars.

“I get all their customers coming from downtown, and people come into my place after getting drunk at another establishment, and I end up having to deal with their problems.”

And Stars has the kind of problems that would normally have warranted a ticket, said Evers, the OLCC regional manager.

“They ended up not getting a cancellation proposal, and that’s because we frankly didn’t know about the problems,” Evers said. “Once we started digging, we found out about it. And since the owners have come up with a compliance plan, we haven’t had as many problems.”

The compliance plan includes barring entrance to the club after 1:30 a.m., roving patrols of the Stars parking lot until 3 a.m. and limitations on the amount of alcohol the nightclub can sell after midnight.

“They are walking a fine line and they know it, so they are trying to mind their p’s and q’s, and make sure that nothing else happens to threaten public safety,” Evers said.

For the time being, local investigators will continue to pull 911 records and subject the Bend Stars to close scrutiny, Evers said. And, thus far, things seem to be improving.

“Overall, we have seen a drop-off in the nature and severity of the calls, and that is what we want to see,” he said. “No one is perfect, but we look for that upward trend (of improvement) or to see if they fall off the cliff, and then we’ll take action.”

On Thursday, the OLCC will hold what is expected to be a two-day hearing on whether to grant the Tualatin license and take a second look at what is going on in Bend, Evers said.

He doesn’t expect a dramatic change in the Bend Stars’ status with the OLCC.

“Unless (the Bend) Stars, for some reason, starts racking up fights and other incidents between now and … Thursday, chances are they aren’t going to be modifying that warning into a ticket.”

Changes at Stars

After an OLCC investigation into two years of police calls to the Stars Cabaret in Bend, its owners proposed the following changes, which are now in place:

• No admission after 1:30 a.m.

• State-certified private security officers patrol the parking lot from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday

• No drinks containing more than one shot of alcohol sold after midnight

• No stand-alone shots of alcohol sold after midnight

• Patrons cannot order more than one drink at a time after midnight

Source: Oregon Liquor Control Commission