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Published - Sunday, June 01, 2008

Test results are needed in Sparta bar death

SPARTA — Authorities still need toxicology test results on a Sparta man who died Christmas Eve after an altercation at a bar before deciding whether to seek criminal charges in the case.

The autopsy report on David Endres, 67, can’t be completed without those test results, which are expected any time, said Monroe County District Attorney Dan Cary.

Endres’ brother, 65-year-old Mike Endres of Sparta, said he hopes charges are filed and the family can get some answers.

“It’s hard all the time,” he said of his older brother’s death.

David Endres died at Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center after an incident at Dimensions Bar in downtown Sparta, said Sparta Police Chief Michael Kass. Police are investigating how Endres was injured.

Dimensions’ owner Pat Murphy believes the incident is one of the reasons why Kass opposed renewing the establishment’s liquor license. The City Council failed to renew the license May 20 on a 2-6 vote. The bar will be unable to serve alcohol effective June 30. Murphy’s attorney filed an appeal Tuesday in Monroe County Circuit Court seeking to reverse the decision. A hearing is expected in June.

“We want our license renewed and to be treated like everyone else,” Murphy said.

City Administrator Ken Witt said the renewal request was denied because of the high number of calls to the establishment and the bar’s response to past incidents. Disturbances are pushed outside, Witt said, rather than being handled internally.

“They weren’t dealing with the situation, they were just pushing it away,” Witt said.

Murphy’s brother and bar manager Scott Murphy filed a harassment complaint against Kass with the police department last week and the city Tuesday. The police department forwarded the complaint to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department to avoid conflict of interest.

The complaint claims Kass told Pat Murphy he did not approve of the liquor license when the business was purchased in May 2007 because Scott Murphy, then a co-owner, was a felon who was convicted in 1988 of passing worthless checks.

Kass’ reasoning was discriminatory because the denial of a liquor license based on a person’s conviction record must include an alcohol-related felony, Scott Murphy said.

“I have to get him ticketed first for harassment or discrimination, then I’ll file a monetary lawsuit,” Scott Murphy said.

The liquor license renewal was denied after Kass told the council Dimensions’ was “riotous and disorderly,” Scott Murphy said. He thinks the renewal denial is a “direct harassment against me and my job,” according to the complaint.

“Obviously Mr. (Scott) Murphy is upset the council chose not to renew the license and appears to be making me the target of his dislike for the city taking away his brother’s liquor license,” Kass said.