CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Dave Stenger would like everyone to know Tomahawks Smokehouse and Saloon in Jefferson is not closed. The bar and restaurant is alive and well and celebrating a grand re-opening of sorts this weekend.

On Nov. 5, club operator Randall Harris closed the business, citing the weak economy, competition from Tri State Casino & Resort and difficulties overcoming a rowdy reputation, among other problems. Stenger, along with four partners, owns the building and says the decision to close Tomahawks caught everyone by surprise.

When the morning employees showed up for work that day, they called Stenger after noticing assorted pieces of equipment and liquor missing from the bar. Nobody knew Harris intended to close.

"It was a real gut punch to us," he said. "It really came out of nowhere."

Harris is no longer involved in the club's operation.

Stenger and company started Tomahawks nearly nine years ago. He says they never looked at it as a big business venture, or something to make them all rich. It was more about a couple of friends who wanted to own a bar.

"I'm retired from UPS," he said. "It just seemed like a dream business to me, you know, owning a bar."

They wanted it to be friendly and fun, a good place for people to come hang out after work. The biker community was part of the clientele, but not all of it. Tomahawks' rowdy reputation, he believes, was mostly unearned.

"Harley Davidson motorcycles are not inexpensive items," Stenger said. "A lot of the bikers, the guys who come in here, are Baby Boomers. They're doctors, lawyers. There's a postmaster who rides, and he comes in here. It's mostly blue- and white-collar people."

And, yes, some of the members of the Pagan motorcycle club come in.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Dave Stenger would like everyone to know Tomahawks Smokehouse and Saloon in Jefferson is not closed. The bar and restaurant is alive and well and celebrating a grand re-opening of sorts this weekend.

On Nov. 5, club operator Randall Harris closed the business, citing the weak economy, competition from Tri State Casino & Resort and difficulties overcoming a rowdy reputation, among other problems. Stenger, along with four partners, owns the building and says the decision to close Tomahawks caught everyone by surprise.

When the morning employees showed up for work that day, they called Stenger after noticing assorted pieces of equipment and liquor missing from the bar. Nobody knew Harris intended to close.

"It was a real gut punch to us," he said. "It really came out of nowhere."

Harris is no longer involved in the club's operation.

Stenger and company started Tomahawks nearly nine years ago. He says they never looked at it as a big business venture, or something to make them all rich. It was more about a couple of friends who wanted to own a bar.

"I'm retired from UPS," he said. "It just seemed like a dream business to me, you know, owning a bar."

They wanted it to be friendly and fun, a good place for people to come hang out after work. The biker community was part of the clientele, but not all of it. Tomahawks' rowdy reputation, he believes, was mostly unearned.

"Harley Davidson motorcycles are not inexpensive items," Stenger said. "A lot of the bikers, the guys who come in here, are Baby Boomers. They're doctors, lawyers. There's a postmaster who rides, and he comes in here. It's mostly blue- and white-collar people."

And, yes, some of the members of the Pagan motorcycle club come in.

"There's definitely a stigma with being a member of that club," he said. "But the ones we get in here are the nicest guys. They just happen to belong to a club with some members who've done bad things."

Stenger said Tomahawks is as safe as any other club in the Valley. The robbery earlier this fall -- before a David Allan Coe show -- was unusual, he said. Burglars destroyed security cameras and took a specific safe.

Harris believed it was an inside job. Stenger doesn't doubt it, but thinks of it as the kind of crime not likely to be repeated. 

"We don't have a lot of trouble here," he said. "A couple of kids broke into the bar once. Another time, two guys broke in, but they hit a couple of other places, too. We don't have problems with crime."

Reopening after Harris closed Tomahawks was surprisingly easy. Stenger says local agencies like the state Alcohol Beverage Control Administration and the county health department worked fast to get them approved. Poca Valley Bank helped with financing.

Getting patrons to come back has been a little harder, he says. The bar was closed very publicly. Old customers are starting to trickle back in, though. They've rehired some of their employees and are, in some ways, making it up as they go along.

"We've scaled down a bit," he said. "We're adjusting our hours a little and slowly phasing some things in."

And they're not afraid to accept a little help from friends. This weekend, as part of their grand re-opening celebration, they're bringing in a band, Hired Gunz, Saturday to play. A patron of the club is paying for it.

"They stepped up to help us out," Stenger said. "And I guess that's how we're going to have to do it. We'll make it if the community wants us."

Reach Bill Lynch at ly...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5195.