STURGIS - The Meade County Commission voted unanimously Thursday not to renew the beer license for Jay Allen's Sturgis County Line rally venue near Bear Butte. Commissioners cited unpaid and late payment to construction contractors as their reason for denying the license renewal.

By law, the commissioners can deny licenses based on the location of the establishment or the character of the applicant. Commissioners said the fact that Allen left the bills unpaid for 10 months speaks to his character.

Allen cannot reapply for another year. However, the commission vote does not put Sturgis County Line out of business. The venue still holds a full on-sale liquor license, which does not come up for renewal until December.

Commissioner Dean Wink said Allen needs to get the bills and disputes settled before the December hearing or he will risk losing the liquor license as well.

Allen, an Arizona-based motorcycle rally entrepreneur, operates the Broken Spoke Saloon in downtown Sturgis and the new Sturgis County Line. Both operate during the August motorcycle rally. He also has Broken Spoke Saloons at Daytona, Fla., and Laconia, N.H.

Allen participated in Thursday's hearing by telephone from Ohio, where he is working another motorcycle event.

"You've put the hurt on the Broken Spoke after everything we've done for that town," Allen said after the vote. He said the saloon has raised $19,000 for the children and the elderly and that the Broken Spoke has been a reputable business in Sturgis for 20 years.

Sturgis County Line, his new venue, was built shortly before last year's Sturgis motorcycle rally, and half a dozen contractors say they've been fighting to get paid ever since.

Some say they have received checks only recently - shortly before the beer-license hearing - and that Allen still owes them for legal costs. Others say Allen still owns them money for the work they did.

Allen conceded that the project has been a financial headache. He's putting his Laconia and Daytona bars up for sale, taken on partners at the Sturgis Broken Spoke and paid everything he could to settle debts.

He said he has reduced the debt from $1.4 million down to $132,000. Once the Laconia sale closes, Allen said, he will be able to pay all justifiable debts.

He complained that some contractors such as King's Construction overcharged or didn't complete their work.

King Construction's attorney, Bruce Hubbard, showed the commissioners two letters the company received from Allen. Both vowed to pay; neither mentioned disputes about the work.

A number of other contractors were also on hand at the meeting. At one point, the meeting turned into a series of one-on-one speakerphone arguments between Allen and the various contractors.

Another controversy that has dogged Allen from the start is Sturgis County Line's proximity to Bear Butte, a place that is sacred to the Lakota, the Northern Cheyenne and other indigenous groups.

American Indians and their supporters, including some eastern Meade County ranchers, have decried what they say is the intrusion of alcohol, loud music and motorcycle noise near the butte, Mato Paha.

They have repeatedly pleaded, protested and petitioned the commission to deny the beer and liquor licenses for location reasons. But each time, the commission approved the license.

"The commission has taken a lot of heat over approving that," Wink scolded, "and it's ironic that you would stiff local contractors."

Allen emphatically denied that he has stiffed the contractors. "I have been 100 percent upfront about this whole thing, … and I have the assets to take care of this," he said.

Meanwhile, the Sturgis City Council, which issues licenses inside the city limits, has scheduled a public hearing on Allen's Broken Spoke Saloon beer license. The hearing will be June 18 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sturgis Community Center. The contractors have taken their case to the city council as well.

If Sturgis County Line has a liquor license but not an off-sale beer license, it can sell beer by the drink to its patrons, Lisa Schieffer, Meade County Auditor, said. And they can take their beer to their campsites on the Sturgis County Line property.

However, she said, the bar can't sell beer in six-packs or 12-packs to the campers. Also, Sunday morning alcohol sales are handled differently with a liquor license than with a beer license.

Contact Dan Daly at 394-8421 or at dan.daly@rapidcityjournal.com