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The Daily Journal
March 7, 2007
By Janet Cremer

The owner of the Budweiser Inn in Momence voluntarily shut down his bar after business Saturday night, ending more than 75 years of the tavern business at the site and the controversy that has surrounded it for several years now.

Scott Billadeau, a Momence native who lives in Naperville, said over the phone Tuesday, that while not admitting any wrongdoing on his part, he turned in his liquor license because he “didn’t want to fight the city” to keep the bar open.

“I didn’t like everyone being mad at me,” he said. “I knew people in town had a bad taste about the bar.

Fighting the city would have come in the form of a hearing of its Liquor Control Commission, which met Tuesday night to hear complaints regarding the Washington Street tavern. The hearing could lead to a decision by Mayor Jim Saindon, the liquor commissioner, to possibly revoke its liquor license.

Saindon’s decision will be made within five days.

Though Billadeau already turned in his license to city officials, the hearing was still held because he did not “admit the allegations” made in the five-count complaint by the city, said Joliet attorney Kevin Yusman, representing Momence in the matter.

The 1 ½-hour hearing, which Billadeau did not attend, included testimony from Police Chief Steve Cromwell plus other current and former officers, regarding a history of problems at the tavern and what they considered to be a higher than normal amount of police calls there, as compared to other Momence bars.

Former Momence officer Quincy Spear, now with the Manteno Police Department, testified that of the high number of calls regarding the Budweiser Inn, the majority “were fights where medical attention was needed.”

One of those occurred on Jan. 20 when Sgt. Tracy Nolte said he was called to remove someone “causing problems.” The man, Guadalupe Hernandez-Martinez, refused to leave, swearing at Nolte and shoving him.

As things escalated, Nolte ended up suffering a broken leg. As a result, he had undergone surgery and has been off work since.

Over the phone, Billadeau said of that night, Hernandez-Martinez, who was unknown at the bar, came in drunk and became belligerent when the bartender refused to serve him. Hernandez-Martinez was arrested for aggravated battery against Nolte, resisting a peace officer and disorderly conduct.

The woman accompanying Hernandez-Martinez also was arrested for battery after she threw a drink at Nolte and Office Raymond Navratil.

Another incident occurred just five days later, when police were called by a resident to break up a fight she saw outside the tavern. After being punched and beaten with a pool stick by two men, the victim, who was bleeding, had gone into the tavern’s bathroom. After police arrived, an ambulance was called; it was noted in the hearing.

The two men were arrested inside the bar for aggravated battery.

Part of the city’s five-count complaint is that between Sept. 28 and Feb. 20 the Budweiser Inn was a “chronic nuisance.” Calls to police included four for disorderly conduct, four for aggravated assault and one for mod action.

“The things we called the cops on were to prevent the nuisances and protect our customers,” Billadeau said.

Just five months ago, Saindon fined the tavern $1,000 and suspended its liquor license for a week following two fights and reports of alleged drug dealing there.

“We card everybody. We recently passed an (underage) sting,” he said. “We also get 100 percent on state liquor inspections and health department inspections.

Of Billadeau’s over-the-phone defense, Yusman said, “he had the opportunity to appear but he failed to appear. The evidence speaks for itself.”

Billadeau also owns the Red Cedar Lanes, a bowling alley and bar on the south side of town and is half-owner of the State Line Inn, six miles east of town on Illinois 114.

He said that neither of his other establishments has had the kind of problems associated with the Budweiser Inn.

“When does my responsibility end and growth people’s responsibility begin?” he asks of problems associated with the establishment, saying many of the issues didn’t have their origins in the tavern.

In 2002, before Billadeau owned it, a shooting outside the tavern spurred a petition submitted by downtown business owners and signed by 25 residents who wanted it shut down. The victim came into the tavern to seek aid for a facial wound.

However, the most serious incident occurred in 1999 when Jeffery Franc died as result of a street beating. Franc’s family had said the fight had its origins in the tavern, though previous owners disputed that and denied responsibility.

“I guess I’m more disappointed than mad,” Billadeau said, saying, “98 percent of the people who came in the bar came there because the always have. They’d play the jukebox and have a couple of drafts with their buddies.”