Skully's Tavern avoids Chattanooga beer board's punishment

photo Skully's Tavern
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3001 Rossville Blvd

3001 Rossville Blvd

Teresa Klein appeared before Chattanooga's beer board Thursday morning to complain about the beating she said she got on March 29 at the hands of three women inside Skully's Tavern at 3001 Rossville Blvd.

She wasn't motivated by revenge, she told the beer board's members.

"I'm here ... because I'm concerned another person might go in there and get beat for sport," Klein said. "I fear for anyone that goes into that place."

She said the bar's staff and patrons had a grudge against her, because they're friends with Klein's ex-boyfriend, a popular, longtime Skully's patron.

Klein said she came into the bar for two beers after having a "bad breakup" with the boyfriend. Klein said she was attacked for no reason by three women who beat her for 10 minutes, and that she still suffers from hearing loss and limited motion in her neck from the assault.

"I think they were trying to kill me, because they only beat me in the head," she said.

The beer board's members listened to Klein's story, and then heard an opposing version of events from one of the alleged assailants, a bartender and the bar's karaoke DJ, all of whom said Klein struck the initial blow.

"She slapped me first," said alleged assailant Elaine "Violet" Davis. "All I did was pull her hair."

Davis and the bar employees testified that two other women, who patronize Skully's infrequently, joined the fight, which at one point sent the four women sprawling into a booth.

Board member Ed Townson seemed skeptical.

"So you fell into an empty booth during a catfight, and you don't recall who came to help you?" he asked Davis.

Ultimately, the beer board's members voted unanimously to dismiss the case against Skully's. At issue was whether the bar complied with the requirement to "maintain a telephone in good working order on the premises and to report all fights and other disorders ... immediately."

Board member Forestine Haynes said "there's just a one-minute disparity" between when Klein called 911 and when the bar called.

Haynes said that as she listened to the testimony, it was apparent to her that "Klein was inebriated." Haynes also noted Skully's bartender cut Klein off after two beers.

In other business, the board voted to postpone until June 21 a hearing on numerous alleged violations JJ's Lounge at 2208 Glass St.

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