Morton council roundup: Police chief accused of shutting down bars early last night of Jubilee; council amends business license requirements; councilor resigns

Tensions were high at the Morton City Council meeting earlier this week as multiple people, both employees and an owner of local bars in town, expressed outrage over the bars being shut down an hour and a half early on the last night of the Morton Loggers Jubilee at the beginning of this month.

Anger was aimed at Morton Police Chief Cole Cournyer, who was accused of directly ordering Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board staff patrolling the Jubilee festival to shut down all the bars early following a brawl that broke out among a group of eight people, per the police report.

Finally, the council amended city code concerning business license requirements for out-of-city businesses, meaning if a business is going to make $4,000 or more, they must have a business license. This amendment was made to align with state law.

Additionally, Morton Mayor Rick Mead announced that Morton City Councilor Caro Johnson submitted a letter of resignation, and city staff are now accepting letters of interest from residents looking to be appointed to the vacancy.

Per state law, the city council has 90 days to appoint Johnson’s replacement on the council following the date of his resignation, at which point the Board of Lewis County Commissioners is required to step in and appoint someone qualified to fill the vacancy.

Johnson last won election in 2021 and was in the last year of a four-year term in Councilor Position 5, but had not filed for reelection this year. Morton residents Jason Knuston and John VanBlaricom are the candidates vying for the seat this year.

To be eligible to serve on the Morton City Council, a resident must have lived at their address in Morton for at least one year and be a registered voter.

Residents interested in applying can submit their letters of interest at Morton City Hall during regular business hours before the council’s next scheduled meeting on Monday, Sept. 22.

Bars shut down early during Jubilee
As for the complaints about the bars being shut down early on the last night of the Morton Loggers Jubilee, discussion was led by representatives from two of the bars, Chris Hatch and Conrad Amos.

They were concerned about the loss of revenue caused by the early closure and claimed Cournyer abused his authority. Hatch estimated he lost between $1,000 and $4,000 in potential revenue from alcohol and food sales from being shut down early.

“My thing was that it was an overflex of power. Especially when I have other officers coming up from this department saying, ‘You did an excellent job,’” Hatch said.

He added he felt this year’s Jubilee festival, which has a reputation of having rowdy attendees, was much more peaceful compared to Jubilee’s of the past — which is why he couldn’t understand why the bars were shut down early.
Another attendee added there were a lot more fights during last year’s Jubilee and the bars were never shut down.

“Because it happened, my main goal is to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Amos said.

According to both Hatch and Amos, the Liquor and Cannabis Board representative told them that Cournyer directly ordered the bars to be shut down following the brawl.

However, according to Morton City Attorney Jim Buzzard, the Liquor and Cannabis Board representative still had the final ultimate authority.

“The chief talked to the liquor control board, liquor control board obviously agreed and apparently ordered you guys to shut down,” Buzzard said. “They have that authority to do so.”

To add onto an already stressful situation, being understaffed as it is, the Morton Police Department was receiving assistance from both Washington State Patrol and the Lewis County Sheriff’s Office, who provided extra personnel to help with patrols during Jubilee. However, the extra help was scheduled to leave by 1 a.m. that final night.

“This is the only city I represent that doesn’t require insurance for events like this, that needs to be on the table here,” Buzzard added.

While they sympathized with the loss of revenue suffered by the bars in the moment, members of Morton City Council maintained that it is still the responsibility of law enforcement to maintain order — especially in a rural community like Morton.

“We don’t want to cause you any grief. I also live here in town and I enjoy the Jubilee. I also own my business and I know part of doing business sometimes is negative. And we have to take the good with the bad, that’s part of business,” Mead said.

After around 45 minutes of discussion, mostly by attendees, Cournyer spoke to defend his actions. According to Cournyer, state law dictates that peace officers have the same authority of Liquor and Cannabis Board representatives when dealing with sales and consumption.

While the Jubilee festival may have been mellow compared to years past, it unraveled quickly as do many events where alcohol is involved.

“We were dealing with a large dispute. Even with officers on the scene, we had felony assaults happen, regular assaults happen, obstruction of justice, failure to disperse, a whole list of crimes,” Cournyer said. “People were so intoxicated they didn't even care. They didn’t even care that there were seven cops on scene, they were still going after each other fighting.”

He also addressed two claims made about the fight. First, attendees who had spoken earlier said those involved in the fight had only been drinking at one establishment, Papa Bears Restaurant and Lounge.

“If anybody is going to stand here and tell me that those people were only drinking at that one establishment throughout this Jubilee, you’re sadly mistaken. They were drinking in every single one of the bars,” Cournyer added.

The other claim was that the brawl only involved four individuals, when the police report stated eight had been involved.