This Pierce County city just made its midnight liquor sale ban permanent
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- Ruston City Council voted 4-1 to make its temporary midnight liquor ban permanent.
- Ordinance bans alcohol sales after midnight and forces bar closures by 1 a.m.
- Business owners report revenue declines and disrupted sales; council cites small net loss.
The Ruston City Council voted in favor of making its temporary ban on alcohol sales after midnight permanent, despite strong opposition from the business community.
On Tuesday the council voted 4-1 to pass the ordinance, which prohibits the sale of alcohol after midnight and requires businesses that do sell alcohol to close at 1 a.m. or be subject to a misdemeanor citation. It will go into effect Nov. 12, the city clerk confirmed Friday.
The city’s initial ban on liquor sales after midnight took effect last December and was set to expire Nov. 16. Council members Jenn Jensen, John Holland, Jim Hedrick and Bradley Huson voted in favor of the ordinance and Lynn Syler voted against, according to the city clerk. All members but Jensen voted to waive the first reading of the ordinance and move straight into a second reading and adoption of the permanent ban on Nov. 4, according to city records. Mayor Bruce Hopkins did not vote, as the city of Ruston has a Mayor-Council form of government, which means the mayor does not vote on issues, except in the case of a tie.
City staff have claimed the liquor ban was necessary to curb “increased incidents and community reports related to public intoxication, leading to disruptions of the peace, offenses including public urination and fighting, damage to personal property, littering and driving under the influence,” per the ordinance.
Hopkins, Hedrick, Huson and Jensen did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The News Tribune about the issue. Holland said he was not available to comment Friday and Syler referred The News Tribune to comments she made last year, when she said she was concerned that the ordinance wouldn’t solve late-night problems but would instead take a “blanket approach” that would harm businesses that aren’t doing anything wrong.
As previously reported by The News Tribune, there are five bars in Ruston that were usually open past midnight: The Unicorn Sports Bar, Coles Bar & Grill, North End on Pearl and the Silver Cloud Hotel Tacoma at Point Ruston. The owner and employees at the 90-year-old Unicorn Sports Bar, in addition to other business owners, have said they believed the Unicorn had been targeted by the city with the ordinance based on the grievances of a few neighbors.
As reported by The News Tribune in 2024, the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board did not consider Ruston a problem area for its enforcement team. Julie Graham, with the WA Liquor and Cannabis Board, told The News Tribune on Friday that only the Unicorn Sports Bar had received any complaints or violations since Dec. 3, 2024. Three people filed a total of seven complaints of over-service and disorderly conduct, four of which were filed by one person in September. Nine inspections were conducted by LCB officers and a written warning was issued for a minor frequenting an age-restricted area on Jan. 31, Graham said. That minor also received a criminal citation.
“Based on complaints and surveillance video the licensee was advised by officers that they are responsible for monitoring the bar’s parking lot for disorderly conduct, drinking in public, etc.,” Graham said. “Education [was] also provided for preventing over-service.”
When asked about the LCB complaints, Trevor Barker, the son of the Unicorn Sports Bar’s owner, said he “had an idea of the three people in the area most likely to complain.”
Last year The News Tribune requested all incident reports related to public intoxication near Ruston bars and found 25 complaints. The News Tribune is waiting to receive public records about how many incidents have been documented with the Ruston Police Department since the temporary ban was signed Dec. 4, 2024.
In the language of the ordinance approved Tuesday, the city alleged that, “during the time since the passage of Ordinance No. 1585, the City has enjoyed improved quality of life without the loss of significant revenue from late-night liquor sales.”
To back up that claim, in the listed background information for the ordinance, the city said it looked at the receipts of three unnamed businesses that sold alcohol from January to July 2025 compared to the same period last year.
“The raw numbers and business identities are not being shared due to taxpayer privacy. Of those three businesses, one has increased receipts since the ordinance took effect and two have decreased receipts. When all businesses are looked at together, the business reduction is a single digit percentage reduction when compared from 2024,” according to city records. “While the cause is not known, this could be caused by the economy or other factors apart from the liquor service hours ordinance. In addition, the businesses would likely have reduced hourly overhead costs if they are closing earlier, but the City does not have that data.”
Barker told The News Tribune on Friday that the Unicorn’s receipts weren’t consulted. He estimated the business had lost 20% in sales since 2024, “if not more.” Barker also noted that the Unicorn is still listed for sale, and the liquor ban has made it harder to sell amid an already challenging buyer’s market.
“It’s been a pretty rough year,” he said Thursday. “On busier nights, we’ve had to kick people out at midnight because of the ordinance. And even on weekdays we get a slower turnout because people who get off at 11, they don’t see much reason to really stop by the bar if last call’s at 12.”
Seth Colby, the operations manager of Coles Bar & Grill, said Friday that before investing in extensive remodeling their ownership met “extensively” with the mayor to ensure the city would support small businesses.
“The city hasn’t held up their end. The police park patrol cars directly across from Cole’s and Macaluso’s [Italian Restaurant], and while the stated aim may be traffic enforcement, it directly impacts business. It’s correct to assume our industry is being affected by economic insecurity, both from suppliers and our guests. We continue to pivot, and navigate narrow margins, where the single digit percentage reductions described have significant implications for bars and restaurants,” he said via text. “The city callously quantifies our loss of revenue and earning potential as insignificant, justified by improved quality of life for residents. You can measure our loss in dollars, what measure shows improvement in quality of life?”
“We are not a commercial district”
At the Tuesday council meeting four residents spoke out against the liquor ban and two spoke in favor, one of them claiming the ordinance should restrict liquor sales even more to “keep riffraff out.” Those who opposed the ordinance worried about the negative impacts on local businesses, said the ban would make Ruston businesses less competitive than neighboring cities like Tacoma and thought there wasn’t data to support the measure’s effectiveness.
Council member Jensen was the sole council member who voted against taking a final vote Tuesday, arguing that the council needed more time to discuss the “hot topic” and increase transparency with residents.
“On principle, I don’t think it’s right that we haven’t given our residents an opportunity to voice their concerns. I’m concerned about pushing this through tonight without discussion,” Jensen said, who would later go on to vote in favor of making the liquor ban permanent.
Council members Holland and Huson said they disagreed with Jensen, claiming that residents have the ability to email council members, businesses owners hadn’t presented alternative solutions to the council and some residents had seen improvements to their quality of life. No other council member made a comment.
Jensen, who had initially voted against the liquor ban in 2024, later said she changed her mind because, “We are residential, we are not a commercial district.”
“We do need to take into account polling and data, but we also have been elected and expected to use our judgment. We’re not just computers using only stats to make a decision, we’re responsible for our neighbors,” she said Tuesday. “It’s not my belief that a one-hour shutdown and a two-hour serving alcohol [restriction] is going to be the differentiator for small businesses. Small businesses need to succeed. Having said that, small businesses need to be responsive to their neighbors, just like the rest of us.”
