Nearly 30 incidents — including fights, violence, druggings and sexual assaults — in one year at a popular University of Oregon-area bar may cost the business its liquor license.

The Oregon Liquor Control Commission issued a notice Wednesday to cancel the liquor license of Taylor's Bar and Grill, at East 13th Avenue and Kincaid Street. The bar and restaurant's liquor license expired June 30, and it received a temporary license to operate until OLCC's review is complete, agency spokesman Matthew Van Sickle said Friday.

Portland restaurant owner Ramzy Hattar purchased Taylor's last year. Hattar has until 5 p.m. Sept. 21 to request a hearing before OLCC makes a decision about the liquor license.

"I don't anticipate losing (Taylor's) liquor license," Hattar said Friday. "I anticipate working with OLCC to address the issues and follow the procedures in place to make sure we resolve it and move forward, and hopefully don't have these issues in the future."

He then added with a sigh, "I've got to dig Taylor's out of this."

In the notice to cancel, OLCC provided 29 examples of "serious and persistent problems" from June 3, 2017, to June 16, 2018. The 29 incidents include three alleged drugging of women at the bar, but do not include five other similar reports made in 2016. The notice, signed by OLCC Executive Director Steve Marks, also states the bar does not have "a good record of compliance."

"The number, frequency and nature of the ongoing incidents that comprise the history of serious and persistent problems demonstrate that licensee does not have the willingness or ability to adequately control the licensed premises and its patrons' behavior in the immediate vicinity of the premises," the notice reads.

> Related: Woman, 21, details April night in which she believes she was drugged at University of Oregon bar, the 10th reported incident in two years

In June, OLCC met with Hattar, the bar's manager Eric Clarke, and representatives of Eugene police and fire, the notice states. In that meeting, "the licensee was provided information about incidents at or in the vicinity of the licensed premises involving over-service, visibly intoxicated patrons, fights, DUIs and sexual assault."

In July, the city of Eugene provided "an unfavorable recommendation" to OLCC on the renewal of Taylor's liquor license, based on the history of serious and persistent problems.

"Information provided by Eugene police indicates that there's been a documented history of serious and persistent problems at this location," reads the letter from Rachelle Nicholas, the city's inspection services manager. "Based on this information the city of Eugene is providing an unfavorable recommendation."

Taylor’s has been a traditional UO student hangout for years. Dating to 1922, it's known for drawing crowds of students in the evenings, including after UO football games and other sporting events.



Hattar was interviewed by The Register-Guard when he purchased the bar last May. He said bartenders and other employees would try to make sure students and other customers don’t drink to excess.

“We don’t want people drinking too much and being intoxicated,” he said then. “If we see signs of intoxication, we will cut people off. There will be a hard line on that. We want our student body to feel safe and to have fun at Taylor’s.”

Friday, Hattar said he's been working with the UOPD and a university specialist on ways to make the bar safer. Over the last six months, he said he's implemented a plan that includes better video surveillance camera placement, a list of code words in the women's bathroom that women can use to get help from bartenders, and eliminating the popular bucket drinks from the bar's menu in the next school year.

"I need to work through it with OLCC and the other powers that be and get it all worked out before the school year," said Hattar, a UO alum. "I take a lot of pride in (Taylor's) and pride in it being a safe environment. It's a rite of passage for (students). It should be safe and fun for all students."

The OLCC notice said the 29 incidents in a year included fighting, and excessive intoxication in the premises or in the immediate vicinity. Some of the incidents led to the serious injury of patrons, including a fractured skull, a broken orbital bone and partial blindness and a dislodged front tooth, the OLCC notice states.

The incidents were reported to the OLCC by Eugene police, UO police, Lane Community College public safety and Springfield police.

Of the most serious, UO police were flagged down at 1:23 a.m. June 2 by witnesses who said a bartender at Taylor's had struck a patron, knocking him unconscious. The victim had been kicked out of the bar for attempting to steal a bottle of alcohol from behind the bar, the OLCC notice states. The bartender escorted the patron outside, where he punched the patron with a closed fist, causing him to lose consciousness and fall on the pavement.

An allegation of sexual assault was made at 1:38 a.m. March 18, when a woman said a man approached her and put his hand up her skirt, the notice states. He threatened her and threatened to hurt her family if she told anyone, the woman told Eugene police. She said everyone involved was intoxicated.

At 2:30 a.m. Feb. 17, a victim who had left Taylor's was assaulted by two "highly intoxicated" men outside the bar, according to the OLCC notice. The victim suffered a fractured skull and concussion. One of the men had also been a patron at the bar.

At 2:45 a.m. Jan. 28, Eugene and UO police responded to an assault at Taylor's. According to the OLCC notice, a man and a woman began arguing in the bar. Another man, who later became the victim, approached the couple and yelled at the man about his behavior toward the woman. Later, the victim waited outside the bar until he thought the aggressive man and his group had left. The victim then walked a block away, where the aggressive man and his group were waiting, the notice said. The man and others attacked the victim, who suffered a fractured orbital bone and partial blindness.

On Sept. 2, a woman told police she had two alcoholic beverages at Taylor's and does not remember anything afterward. A friend saw her being taken from the premises to a taxi by three unknown males, the OLCC notice states. After making a report to police, the woman went to the hospital to get a sexual assault exam. The result of the exam is not known.

Taylor's OLCC notice

City of Eugene letter

Follow Chelsea Deffenbacher on Twitter @ChelseaDeffenB. Email chelsea.deffenbacher@registerguard.com.