It probably won’t win him the Nobel Peace Prize. But Morristown Mayor Tim Dougherty on Wednesday helped defuse a business feud that was threatening the peace on DeHart Street.
After meeting for more than an hour in the Mayor’s office, Dave Walsh, manager of the Tashmoo bar, said he won’t press a criminal mischief charge against Bill Braunschweiger of Braunschweiger Jewelers.
The charge stemmed from a Christmas Eve incident in which Bill acknowledged depositing broken beer bottles in the vestibules of Tashmoo and the Dark Horse Lounge to protest recurring tavern litter in his store parking lot, which adjoins the Tashmoo lot and its dumpsters. Tashmoo and the Dark Horse are owned by members of the Walsh family.
The Mayor spoke with Dave and Bill for a few minutes, then left them alone to air out their differences, he said. They arrived at a compromise designed to minimize spillage of beer bottles from a garbage truck hired by the bars.
“Assuming the plan works out and we get along, I don’t see any need for the complaint,” Dave said. “It’s a trial plan. Then, hopefully everything is back to normal.”
“We just agreed to work it out,” Bill said. “No more fighting. We will try to work it out (with the hauler) and see. I’m a forgive-and-forget kind of guy. Let’s start all over again.”
Central to the plan is restored truck access to dumpsters serving Tashmoo and the Dark Horse.
Bill had barred the hauler from crossing his property to access the dumpsters. The truck always had to make a series of tight turns to reach them, which he said may have contributed to the spillage problem.
Now, the truck will drive straight back and Tashmoo employees will roll the dumpsters to meet it. No turns should make for a neater operation, both sides are hoping.
The Morristown Partnership also had urged the warring sides to come together, the Mayor said.
“These businesses aren’t going to court. They’ve got to work together to make this a positive experience. Both are very good businesses,” the Mayor said.
Bill and other local merchants also have complained about noise and messy sidewalks that they blame on the Dark Horse.
Dave said his family has resolved a recent dispute, paying Ginty’s Irish Gifts $100 for gift glasses that shattered, according to a shopkeeper, because of loud music downstairs at the Dark Horse.
When asked if he will try his mediation skills with the Dark Horse, the Mayor replied: “Let’s start small and see where it goes.”
