After dropping criminal charges against the owner of a local night club, a hearing has been scheduled in a complaint filed to the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Commission.

The Boheme Bistro, 2900 West St., will be facing the commission on July 23 at 9 a.m. because of a complaint regarding underage drinking.

Pete Sherman, owner of the Boheme, was arrested last August when police officers found two of his underage employees consuming gelatin shots in the kitchen. Although the criminal charges were dropped, a complaint was filed.

“This is not a lawsuit,” said John Klaus, Ames city attorney. “This is what you would call a complaint to the Alcoholic Beverages Commission.”

Klaus said the Boheme’s hearing will take place in Ankeny at the Iowa Alcoholic Beverages Division headquarters, 1918 S.E. Hulsizer Ave.

Sherman said if his liquor license is revoked as a result of the hearing, he will be forced to shut down the Boheme.

“This is part of something that has been going on for quite a while,” said Mike Adams, a manager at Welch Avenue Station. “It would be pretty unfortunate if they closed.”

Sherman held an open forum at the Boheme Monday night, so his customers could discuss the situation.

He said the forum “went very well, and about 60 people showed up.”

The forum was held in an effort to determine whether the Boheme was receiving biased treatment and where the treatment was coming from.

“We came up with a number of possibilities,” Sherman said. “There was a very strong consensus that there was an apparent bias of some sort, but not necessarily on the part of the city.”

They discussed possibilities for the treatment and what could be done to alleviate it.

Although nobody from the city showed up, Sherman said he made arrangements to meet with them.

Sherman said he hopes through this meeting he will get “more clarification on policies and procedures and interpretations of them.”

Patrick Fleming, co-owner of Bi-Fi Records, said if the Boheme shuts down, it will make an impact on Ames.

“It would have a big impact not only on Bi-Fi Records, but on the whole music scene in general,” Fleming said.

He said this is because it is one of the only venues that accommodates local music.

“It would be great if this town had all-ages scenes that didn’t need alcohol to support them, because then they wouldn’t need liquor licenses to support them,” he said.