What would normally be a routine liquor license application at the Lincoln City Council Monday turned into a debate over the wisdom of bars offering drink specials.

Coyote Willy’s made the mistake of seeking a liquor license while simultaneously advertising 25-cent Miller Lite draws.

That prompted Police Chief Tom Casady to weigh in on the application and air his concern about the resurgence of drink specials in Lincoln bars. Cheap drinks encourage people to drink too much and cause problems for police, he said.

When people are arrested for drunken driving, police ask where they were drinking. Of the hundreds of people taken to the Cornhusker Place detox center in the past six months, five told police they’d been drinking at Coyote Willy’s, according to Casady. Four of the five were arrested for drunken driving, he said. Their average blood alcohol content: .164.

That’s nowhere near the top of the list of popular bars among drunken drivers, and Coyote Willy’s didn’t have an unusually high number of police calls, but Casady said the high blood alcohol content of the drivers concerned him.

He’s disturbed that the bar scene has gotten so competitive that bars are resorting to cheap drinks to get people in the door.

“I just think it’s a good reminder that these kinds of problems can emerge when you’re selling mixed drinks … below cost and trying to make it up in volume,” Casady told the council.

Representatives for Coyote Willy’s said five customers going to detox over six months is not many compared to other bars and promised to train servers to spot intoxicated customers.

The liquor license was approved, just barely, by a 4-3 vote.

Urban park goes wireless

Lincoln’s first urban park, which recently opened at the corner of 10th and O streets, is also the city’s first park to have wireless Internet access.

Government Square Park picks up its signal from the old City Hall west of the park — a signal that pretty much covers the whole block bounded by Ninth, 10th, O and P streets. (We in the Journal Star newsroom at Ninth and P may even be able to pick it up, on a good day.)

This isn’t a playground type of park; it has pathways, benches, and architectural accents resembling the historic buildings surrounding it. The park is anchored by a fountain donated by the Duane and Phyllis Acklie family.

Petition headed to city leaders

Spotted on the counter of a Haymarket District coffee shop: a petition asking city leaders to remove or cover the unused train tracks on Eighth Street between L and N streets because they “pose an enormous safety risk for bicyclists.”

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.