The owners of the Dallas Eagle just issued the following statement:
The problems at the Dallas Eagle on Friday night, July 10, 2009, were predicated on misinformation, and/or lack thereof, we received from the agent we had hired to expedite our licensing process. Regardless, the permits were not in order; and we take full responsibility for this. We would like to apologize to or customers, our employees, and the community at large. We would also like to extend our sincere apologies to the employees at TABC and the Dallas Police Department for the adverse press they have had to endure for simply doing their duty. Neither of these agencies, in any way harassed or threatened us. Their behavior throughout was polite and organized. They were acting on a compliant, which by law, they are required to do. Sadly, we were informed these calls were placed by a competitor. The calls were placed through Austin (for TABC) and through the District Attorney’s office here (for DPD) indicating someone with well placed connections. Once again, this was a licensing error on our part, nothing more.
On a broader note, it is enough that our community has to deal with discrimination on a daily basis without having to worry about elements within our own community. This, to our minds, is the real story here.
We thank all of you for your love and support.
We are open for business at the old location until ALL appropriate documentation is in hand.
The Owners of the Dallas Eagle
Thank you Dallas Eagle for clearing up this matter for the community. Sounds like you may have a claim against the agent you hired for any damages you suffered. I am comfused by who the competitor could be since to my knowledge, Dallas Eagle is the only gay leather bar in Dallas. I’m sure if you know, you won’t name names. Just wondering though. Good luck.
No RAID here. Just an apology to everyone – including the TABC and the Poilice. Go figure.
Maybe “competitor” is the new TABC euphemism for religious groups? I don’t believe they actually told who was the complainant. I’m not even convinced that this entire statement wasn’t issued under threat of 30 day closure…
Why would they step up their game from matters about the license (twice!!!) to shutting them down because the allegedly sold to a minor?
It still feels like harrassment. I don’t go to the clubs but have heard the cops wait for customers to leave the G/L bars stumbling even a little bit so they can arrest them for PI.
Amanda, give it up. Quit making trouble where there is none. No minor was sold liquor. It was all a licensing issue. All very routine. Ok, Glen and Ed, Ok, just to make sure you keep yourselves out of trouble, have you sent in your application for a dance hall license? It takes about 30 to 60 days for that to process. If you do not have one, and you have any kind of dancing or other entertainment, you can be fined by the Dallas Police and then your license request will be denied and you will never be able to have dancing or entertainment and can be fined every time the vice comes in and sees dancing or entertainment. You know someone will call and report you if you do not have it, so do it. If you need help with that matter, I have been through it many times and can help you through the process. Tammye knows how to contact me so contact me through her if necessary,
Amanda,
Try reading the statements of the TABC, The Eagle Owners and many of the customers. Please. There was no RAID or in your words “It still feels like harassment.” No, it wasn’t.
Oh, your question about if “competitor†is the new TABC euphemism for religious groups? Uhm, well I guess they DO compete with bars, so, yeah …. you can have that one.
I am thankful for the diligent reporting of the Dallas Voice and am happy to know that the owners of the Dallas Eagle have issued a press release explaining their side of the situation. What disturbs me as a customer is the ongoing pattern of harassment of the Dallas Eagle. This is hardly the first time there has been an incident with TABC. During the annual Texas Bear Round Up, it has become nearly traditional to expect a TABC visit to both the Dallas Eagle and the Hidden Door while their competitors on the strip seem to escape this enhanced scrutiny. There is clearly something fishy going on with the complainant and his/her/their connections to goverment. Make no mistake, I am not excusing the owners of the Dallas Eagle for their negligence, but the difficulty that they’ve had in getting this new space opened seems unlikely to explained by incompetence alone. Whether there is a competitor, a gay-hating neighborhood group, religious group, or politician, someone is behind this and we still need to know and react as a community. It would be disturbing indeed if this was a gay-owned competitor.
This is the kind of practice that was more common several years ago. Bars used to call in the TABC on each other on a regular basis. I thought we had come further than this but apparently not.
Mark, possibly the problems the Dallas Eagle has had in getting this new bar open has been strictly financial. Yes there are a lot of requirements by the City of Dallas on the building and it takes money to make it to the city code. I do not know if that was the problem, but I am speaking from personal experience, it is very expensive to build a building from the ground up and make it to code for the city, especially when you are just the average Joe. Most people are not going to tell you that they have financial problems and that is the reason for the delay, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that with the right amount of money you can build something in a couple of months, and for those without the money, it takes a little longer. The point now is that they have reached the goal, almost, and the community should enjoy the new facility and appreciate the hard work it took for a couple of dudes to get it accomplished.
Carl Smith wrote, ” I am comfused by who the competitor could be since to my knowledge, Dallas Eagle is the only gay leather bar in Dallas.”
Carl, the new Eagle has a large outdoor space with trees. They also have a good sized dance floor with a new light system. The old bar had neither of these things. I personally think just offering “the community” another choice is competition enough. The Dallas Eagle is a leather/Levi bar, but they welcome everyone.
Wow.. Lots of finger pointing from you all… but how many of you took the time to roll up your sleves and help? Huh??
Everyone seems so easy to volenteer their opinon be they right of wrong but how many take the time to make this a better place?
While everyone was yelling and screaming about various behaviors I took the time to donate my skills and abilities to JD and make a MEETUP group to keep people informed of hosted events.
Maybe you should all take a moment to think about how you can turn your ugly and negative energies into something a little bit more positive. Like how about the gay legacy of tomorrow? What freedoms to young people of today lack that *you* weren’t deprived of when you came out?
It seems we have a bad case of “misery loves company” based on all of your “speculative” commentary instead of cold hard facts. With this kind of behavior around here I sometimes feel ashemed to be associated with community members who have issues with their own finger pointing.
Now roll up your sleves take a look in the mirror and do something positive for a change besides complaining about others.
The wording used by the TABC officer at the scene was ” another bar owner. Gay bar.” He would not get more specific than that, other than to add that the calls came through Austin for the TABC and through the Dallas County District Attorney’s office for the Dallas Police. They were NOT random 911 calls. They were VERY SPECIFIC “indicating someone with well placed connections.”
Rick, I’m not sure if it’s my questions that have you whining about finger pointing or not, but I wanted to add that I’m not meaning to disparage the owners of the Eagle in their efforts to bring us a new establishment. I’m much more concerned about ongoing targetting of the Eagle over and over again by TABC and who is behind that. I can wait for a new Dallas Eagle, however if there is someone with sinister intentions delaying its opening and causing its patrons and owners to be habitually harassed that is a matter of great concern. Carl, you may be right that delays in the opening of the bar are financially related, but they can not explain the repeated harassment by TABC.
So if I’ve got this straight, the standard for harassment is when the police and/or TABC go into the same bar more than once. Wow. Just wow. I think that it’s natural for people to feel that *only they* are being watched or picked on, but do you actually think that the cops are taking time out of, I don’t know, policing EVERYONE, just to pick on gay bars? Sorry, folks. From all reports, looks like gay bars get the same amount of attention as every other kind of bar. Why don’t you hear about those other bars and patrons, you ask? Because they’ve got better things to do than complain. Wow.
Rob, of course Dallas Eagle welcomes everyone. I have been there many times, with leather(my biker gear) and without, and never meant to suggest that it was strictly for the leather community. But I was not really thinking about the difference between the old space and the new space. Now I get it. Hell, it could have been anyone. The economy is tight and no bar/club wants to loose it’s clientele to another bar/club even in good times. I also used to have TABC and the Dallas Police and the Dallas Fire Department called on me regularly,so I know the effort it takes to keep you nose clean and all you ducks in a row to keep your competitors at bay. Like Hardy said, I was kind of thinking those were days of the past. I have been out of the business for 5 years. How easy it is to forget and move on. Oh well, looks like it is all going to work out. One more piece of advice to Glen and JD, don’t know if you ever had a dance hall license at the old location or not, you should have,but it is not transferable to the new location. You need a new license. Don’t forget to get the late hours permit. Again, glad to help if necessary.
Pro Police, wow, just wow! apparently you’ve live in a bubble of suburban bliss where only “bad” people get harassed. I actually was complaining about a pattern of review of not just gay bars, but this one particular gay bar. However I think if you missed the news under your rock last week, police raided a gay bar last week in Fort Worth and injured patrons there. If you’ve ever been part of an oppressed minority, then you might have some sympathy for those who don’t always believe that the authorities are acting with noblest intent. As a matter of review, I discussed the harassment by TABC which is not actually a police organization insofar as I know. To your point of police being allowed to do their job, I support their efforts to keep our community safe. However, the unusual attention given the Dallas Eagle is not only odd in the context of bars at large, it is unusual among gay bars as well. My general complaint is not just a screaming queen whining about homophobia which is still quite pervasive as evidenced by your not so subtle attack, but rather I am questioning a pattern of abuse of power focused on this one bar which I suspect happens not simply because the TABC and police are doing their jobs, but rather because someone with power has influence and is wielding it. However I welcome whatever evidence you’d like to provide about the evenhandedness of TABC and the police. To suggest that police have never ever targeted gays unusually for harassment is ludicrous at best. It certainly is much better than the past, but because we complain, things can improve.
@Carl –
I’ve noticed several of your comments addressed to “Glen and JD”. FYI… Glen has neither had an ownership stake, nor been employed by the Dallas eagle for several months now.
To me, I feel everyone is missing the point in this whole situation. What bother’s me is not the fact that TABC raided the Dallas Eagle. It was the notion that an “unnamed competitor” leaked information to the TABC and the Attorney’s Office. For a community who breeds itself on strife and a need for acceptance, this was a low blow and a case of backstabbing childishness. We are supposed to be grown up men and women. Apparently someone in our so called community has a beef with the Dallas Eagle. It could be a ex owner (my guess), disgrunteled employee, or an upset patron. All I can say is grow up. The last thing our community needs is more drama caused by an immature queen who hate the world because you got screwed over. To the so called “unnamed competitor” who doesn’t have the balls to come forward, do us all a favor and crawl back into the closet where you belong. We have enough drama to worry about.
@Matt, thanks I am now up to speed. I was involved in a pretty bad motorcycle accident back in November of last year and have been laid up since then so I have not been out since then and out of the loop of things in the community. Thanks again.
Mark and to all of you whiners! This is not a gay harrassment issue! Get over it and accept that the TABC and DPD investigated, NOT RAIDED, the Dallas Eagle based on a complaint about the move to a new location without a new liquor permit. The owners of Dallas Eagle have admitted fault and have admitted that the TABC and DPD were only doing their jobs and apologized to them for our, yes the gay community, being misinformed and our adverse press they are enduring for doing their job! They additionally stated that they were not harrassed or threatened and that TABC and DPD were polite and organized. Unfortunately, TABC and DPD received the complaint that Friday and responded to it that day. They didn’t have knowledge of this complaint prior on Wednesday or Thursday or I am sure they would have investigated the complaint then. So, for those of you whining about having your night ruined on Grand Opening night…oh well that’s the way it went down so stop blaming the cops because it is the Dallas Eagle’s fault for ruining your night! Also, you state that TABC is constantly harrassing the Dallas Eagle. Give us some dates becuase after speaking to Dallas Eagle Staff, they state that TABC has not been harrassing them and that they only come in a few times a year for a routine inspection! Also, TABC is a state police agency. They are state police officers like DPS Troopers and Game Wardens and make arrests. You also state they stay away from the Cedar Springs gay bars…NOT TRUE…they routinely are inspecting these bars as I have seen them there as recent as last week. Check with those bars and get your facts straight before you open your big mouth! Again, everyone was so quick to jump the bandwagon of discrimination and harrassment and all you did was give the gay community a black eye for being a bunch of drama queens!!!
JD, the Leather Knights are behind you my brother. The Eagle has survived worse than this. We stand together against centries old hatred against our community and yes even from within! I hope whom ever the “snitch” is realizes that things come back around. JD you are the real stand up man I knew you were. You’ve taken responsibily for your errors and we know you are taking steps to correct them. You and your staff are the best in Dallas. Don’t hesitate to call on us for anything!