Lawsuit Brewing Over Island Pub -- Longtime Patrons Take Offense At Claim Against Roanoke Inn

MERCER ISLAND

It's a place where fathers buy their sons a beer on their 21st birthdays, where local high-school grads hold reunions, where the choir of the Presbyterian Church occasionally refreshes itself after practice.

Since 1914, the Roanoke Inn on the northern edge of Mercer Island has stood like an oasis, a place where an affluent community short on heritage could connect with generations past.

While some residents call it a "community treasure," a claim filed against the city of Mercer Island portrays it differently.

The Roanoke Inn is an "ongoing cancer in the neighborhood . . . indecent and offensive to the senses," according to the claim, filed by John and Joanne Peterson. It is an illegal business operating in a residential area, a traffic and safety nuisance that flouts city ordinances and serves alcohol to minors, the Petersons contend.

The only remedy, they say, would be to shut it down.

Police and city officials, many of whom regularly visit the Roanoke, say there is no merit to the claim, which was filed Monday. Such claims are required 60 days before a lawsuit can be filed against a municipality.

The brewing legal fight over the Roanoke Inn, at 1825 72nd Ave. S.E., has escalated. The notion that someone would want to abolish a favorite island meeting place has raised a community's ire.

"There's going to be a lot of enraged folks. The inn is sort of a sacred spot," said 84-year-old Delores Erchinger, who has been visiting the Roanoke since her family moved to Mercer Island in 1937.

Relations between the Petersons and the owner of the Roanoke Inn, Dorothy Reeck, began amicably.

In 1985, the Petersons bought a house from Reeck that abuts the inn's driveway. The couple, who live in a waterfront home on North Mercer Way, purchased it as a rental property. The Petersons' three older boys have lived there and were loyal patrons of the tavern.

But owning a home next to a tavern soon became troublesome, said Joanne Peterson. First, cars began to park in front. Then the laughter and music began to irritate. In 1996, a group of locals calling themselves the Friends of Roanoke Inn renovated the tavern's red neon sign in memory of a deceased friend. The Petersons soon complained about the glare.

The disagreements mounted and confounded a city-sponsored mediator who tried to resolve them.

When the tavern put concrete platforms under the outside tables this spring, the family felt it needed to act, Joanne Peterson said. The Roanoke Inn was no longer a neighborhood watering hole. It had become a cross-lake attraction.

"It used to be a little place people came to in the evening," she said. "Now, everybody loves the place, and it's gotten out of control."

Peterson says she tried to enlist the rest of the neighborhood three years ago in her fight but found the tavern wasn't really bothering anyone else. Even though Peterson doesn't live in the rental home, she says, the parking problems and merrymaking affect her nearly every day when she walks her sons' dogs or helps weed their garden.

Peterson's complaints are well known within City Hall and the island's Police Department.

"It's a long-standing dispute," said Public Safety Director Jan Deveny, adding that he has no evidence that the Roanoke serves liquor to minors. "We don't regard the tavern as a problem. It was there long before the other houses were built."

The Roanoke Inn began as a chicken-dinner restaurant not far from the former ferry dock. During Prohibition in the 1920s, it served as a local speak-easy, with a lookout on the roof to watch for federal agents crossing Lake Washington.

Edwin Reeck bought the place in 1943, and in 1968 his son, Hal, took over. Four years ago Hal Reeck died, leaving the tavern to his wife, Dorothy.

In 1976, the inn was declared a landmark.

"The Roanoke Inn is part of our island," Erchinger said. "it's something we all love.

"This (claim) is not because of a pub. It's because of one woman."

Alex Fryer's phone message number is 206-464-8124. His e-mail address is: afryer@seattletimes.com