MudBugs Pub & Club in Gulf Shores is where the locals go for karaoke, to shoot pool, and play darts.

It has operated for over 20 years within the heart of Gulf Shores Parkway and in an area populated with eateries and establishments near the beaches marketed more for the region’s record-setting tourism.

But the bar’s fate is in now in flux, and the Gulf Shores City Council will serve as the judge and jury on Thursday during a special hearing on whether MudBugs’ business license should be renewed.

It will be the second special public hearing within the past week in which Gulf Shores leaders are weighing whether to extend business licenses to bars with questionable pasts.

MudBugs will not be in attendance.

The establishment’s attorney, Mark Ryan, told AL.com on Tuesday that he will not be in attendance and is advising the bar’s owner, Janley Woerner Miarka, to also not show up to the 3 p.m. special meeting.

Ryan claims the Gulf Shores hearing is a “violation of due process” and calls the hearing “illegal” because he claims it is not specified through city ordinance through a previous vote by the Gulf Shores City Council. The Gulf Shores ordinance does include language that allows for a hearing as long as an applicant is given a notice 10 days in advance.

“I haven’t seen anything like it in my 30 years of practice,” said Ryan, an attorney from Orange Beach. “It’s disturbing that with a city the size of Gulf Shores, with the resources they have, these (hearings) are happening. These are unlawful procedures.”

The city of Gulf Shores declined comment.

MudBugs issues

The hearing is expected to include testimony from the Gulf Shores Police Department chronicling public safety issues at the late-night bar. Recent incidences that generated local media attention included an alleged sexual assault and fight that occurred on August 28, and a Feb. 27, 2021, shooting that occurred after an irate patron left the bar and began firing his gun at it.

Ryan argues that no official complaint was filed to him, though he confirms he has met with Gulf Shores Police Chief Ed Delmore and Deputy Chief Dan Netemyer in recent days to discuss the concerns.

He said the meetings with the police were “outstanding and professional and reasonable,” and resulted in some agreements that included, among other things, confirming that the bar agrees to move up its closing time from 3 a.m. to 1 a.m. and purchasing a scanner for IDs.

Delmore declined to comment ahead of the Thursday hearing.

“The problem we are running into is this whole procedure the city is following is not a valid procedure,” he said.

Cigar bar’s past

The MudBugs hearing comes after another Gulf Shores bar, also with a troubling past, came before the council during a special meeting on Monday.

Cohiba Dunes, originally opened in 2008 as a “cigar bar,” had its business license renewed for 90 days after the establishment’s new ownership pleaded before the council for an opportunity to prove itself.

The hearing on Monday lasted over an hour and was highlighted by testimony from Gulf Shores Police Chief Deputy Dan Netemeyer. He chronicled past problems at the bar that included, among others, biker gang activity, graffiti and a 45-minute encounter with an impaired and violent patron in a parking lot that is connected to a multiplex theater.

“I don’t come before you very often but to devolve a public safety matter that is pressing in Gulf Shores,” Netemeyer told the council before listing the past problems at Cohiba Dunes since 2017, but before the new ownership took over. “These are not the type of activities the citizens of Gulf Shores expect. These are not the activities the guests of Gulf Shores expect.”

He added, “I don’t think anyone going to Cobb Theater or a late-night action thriller would want to walk out into a parking lot and live it in real life, which has occurred at the parking lot of the Cohiba Dunes in the past.”

The cigar bar, Netemeyer argued, had not operated as an actual cigar bar for years. He said a commercial grade humidor room – where people gather to smoke cigars – was used for storage.

Netemeyer said since 2017, Cohiba Dunes had 181 total calls for police service, which is more than twice as many that occur at other establishments in Gulf Shores that operate with similar late-night hours.

Netemeyer said there have been no criminal problems within the past month and during the time new management has taken over.

Cigar bar or late-nights

Turner Adcock, the establishment’s new manager, told the council that Cohiba Dunes will have happy hours and cater to a business crowd. New security has been brought in to prevent criminal activities from occurring inside the bar or in the nearby parking lots.

“We believe we can refurbish Cohiba entirely,” said Adcock. “We are making strides toward getting the humidor functioning, and there will be a good selection of cigars they can choose.”

Adcock, though, requested the bar remain open until 3 a.m.

“I’m hearing two business plans,” said Gulf Shores City Councilman Jason Dyken. “Revamp and build back the cigar bar, which was (once) successful and did not have the problems recently documented by the bar, but also stay open until 3 a.m.”

He added, “To me, the late-night crowd is not the cigar bar aficionados.”

Adcock said the cigar bar “entices” visitors to Cohiba Dunes, but that the bar needs to attract “more business throughout the day.”

The Gulf Shores City Council requested the bar add more security cameras, utilize the bar’s backdoor for employee entrance only, have on-site private security and install “no firearm signage” on the premises.