Cusick and Blueslide Saloons Beat the License Opposition—Again
County commissioners declined to revoke one license and granted another, letting Campbell & Donebo keep operating at Cusick and Blueslide despite determined local opposition.
M. C. Campbell, of the firm of Campbell & Donebo, proprietors of saloons and restaurants at Cusick and Blueslide, Wash., returned from Colville on Tuesday morning. Mr. Campbell had been summoned to appear before the county commissioners to show cause why the license for the saloon at Blueslide should not be revoked. County Attorney Kirkpatrick informed the commissioners that there was not sufficient cause for a revocation and so the matter was dropped. Mr. Campbell also secured a license for his saloon at Cusick, formerly operated by Joe Cusick.
There has been a determined opposition on the part of some of the residents of both Blueslide and Cusick to keep Campbell & Donebo from getting licenses for their places, but they have beaten the opposition each time, although they have been put to a heavy expense on each occasion.
There has been considerable jealousy shown against the firm by parties engaged in the same business, and most of the trouble has arisen from this cause.
“They have beaten the opposition each time, although they have been put to a heavy expense on each occasion.”
Liquor licensing was one of the era's most contested local-government functions, with saloonkeepers, temperance advocates, and business rivals all working the levers. Modern licensing fights over bars, cannabis shops, or entertainment venues still turn on the same mix of local opposition and economic competition.
From readers
No comments yet. If you know something about this story — a correction, a family memory, a source — it belongs here.