The Buckhorn Bar and Parlor has responded to a resolution sent to City Council by UW’s A-Team to encourage additional responsibility from and scrutiny of Laramie’s alcohol-serving establishments.
With its primary mission to reduce underage and irresponsible drinking, the A-Team, a coalition of groups and individuals among campus and community, presented its resolution at a City Council meeting with data from a police report linking some Laramie establishments to higher incidents of alcohol-involved arrests. The Buckhorn topped the list of being the ‘last point of consumption’ (LPOC) reported by a large margin, but co-owner Mike Hopkins asserts that it’s a mistake to pin those incidents on the practices of his establishment.
“To even suggest that the Buckhorn should be responsible or be sanctioned for all these people who come from other bars is crazy,” Hopkins said. “You have a drink at Roxie’s, at Third Street, or Elmer’s— they get there at 12:30, they might just have one at the Buck but they’re full of drinks already. And then the house parties—I know a lot of kids who wait until 12:30 because they like to come down and dance. They head to the Buck but they drink at the house, and we have to take care of everybody.”
Joe Hageman, the Buckhorn’s attorney, explained the disparities between the Buckhorn and other alcohol-serving establishments that could make the Buckhorn’s number of LPOC reports seem higher. The report, an annual collection of data from the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police, showed a total of 42 incidents in which the Buckhorn was reported as the LPOC. The A-Team’s resolution specified the Ranger and Mingle’s as places frequented by UW students, which had 14 and nine reports, respectively, with other Laramie establishments collectively much lower.
“It’s comparing apples and oranges when you compare the Buckhorn to other places,” Hageman said. “If you look at that report you’ll see alcohol-involved arrests that have to do with 3rd Street Grill and Ruffed Up Duck. Well, the capacity at the Buckhorn, between its two different floors, is at least eight and probably 10 times greater than the capacity of those two other establishments. If you multiply the number of alcohol-involved arrests from 3rd Street Grill by 10, you discover they have a higher percentage.”
Hageman also pointed out that the Buckhorn has a wider range of business hours than other establishments—leading to the “Buck Thirty” phenomenon.
“Those people have been consuming an unknown amount of alcohol and other people’s specials before they get there,” Hageman said. “You can’t say that it’s over-serving at the Buckhorn because they don’t arrive until 12:30 or later.”
Hopkins is confident in the ability of his staff to draw a line for patrons over the limit—per the guidelines set by the Training for Intervention Procedures (TIPS) program.
“We understand the problem, everybody’s TIPS-trained,” Hopkins said. “We go over over-serving and if people are drunk, not to serve them. We’ve been in business 50 years so we’ve got it down pretty good.”
Buckhorn bartender Thaddeus Jones said, “The employees that I know and work with, yeah, they’re usually really good about that.”
Jones worked as security prior to being a bartender and said he needed to escort people out “every now and then.”
Following the presentation of the A-Team’s resolution to City Council, the renewal of the Buckhorn’s license was briefly at stake before being resolved as a non-issue. According to Hageman, some councilors wanted to delay the Buckhorn’s renewal, but a city attorney advised them against such an action. To clarify, Hageman sent an email to Vice President of Student Affairs Sean Blackburn, to be shared with the A-Team.
“It [the email] was telling them the problem that had been caused by the resolution, but it was also for the purpose of pointing out that you can’t reach the conclusion that there’s something being done wrong at the Buckhorn on the basis of that report,” Hageman said. “I think they overstepped and somebody needed to point it out to them.”
Hageman stated he saw the A-Team’s motive as “well-intentioned,” if not fully thought through, and the legal issue as a result of the particular language used.
