In a contentious hearing Tuesday, Oct. 24, Palmyra Borough Council heard testimony regarding the proposed transfer of a liquor license owned by Ninkovich LLC from 800 Cumberland St., Lebanon, to 1 E. Main St., Palmyra.
At center of the conversation – alongside concerns about parking and the placement of a new bar near the Palmyra Academy of Dance – was the relationship between Ninkovich LLC, whose sole member is Derek L. Ninkovich, and Ninkovich’s brother, Christopher T. Behney, owner of the former Just Wing It restaurants in Lebanon and Annville.
Behney, who purchased the 1 E. Main St. property in October 2022 for $199,000, was the original petitioner for the liquor license transfer, according to documents obtained from Palmyra Borough.
Much of the testimony centered around a January 2017 incident at Just Wing It in Annville, where a Lebanon Valley College student, Ricky Lee Bugg Jr., said he was verbally accosted by Behney with racial slurs. The student later filed a federal public accommodation racial discrimination suit against Just Wing It LLC.
U.S. Middle District Judge Jennifer P. Wilson decided in the student’s favor and ordered Just Wing It to pay Bugg $40,000 as well as his legal fees. Also in attendance at the hearing was attorney Jennifer Ruth, whose firm represented Bugg in the matter.
Ruth, who said that the attorneys fees were in excess of $70,000, told borough council that three years later, all attempts to contact Behney before, during, or after the civil suit have been unsuccessful and her firm, Harrisburg-based Smigel, Anderson & Sacks, was still attempting to collect payment on behalf of Bugg and themselves.
Ruth argued at the hearing that Behney was a party to the proposed liquor license transfer because he was the only one to contact the borough regarding the transfer.
Read More: Palmyra Borough, PLCB let liquor license transfer proceed despite questions
Ruth noted also that, although Ninkovich said he had no financial involvement in the Just Wing It restaurants, his name is listed as a co-owner of the fictitious name registration for “Just Wing It.”
Ninkovich found few advocates, other than his lawyer, in the council room during the hearing. At one point, in response to a question from council member Jane Quairoli late in the session about whether Ninkovich still felt it was appropriate to have had Behney contact the borough on his behalf, Ninkovich appeared to shake his head no. He said earlier in the night that he had been very busy and so was unable to make arrangements himself. Municipal officials also noted that Behney has delinquent utilities bills with the borough and Annville Township, as well as outstanding local and county real estate taxes.
However, based on records obtained from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board through a Right-to-Know request, LebTown has uncovered still more questions about the link between Ninkovich LLC and Behney.
In 2013, as Ninkovich LLC was seeking the double transfer of a liquor license formerly held by Lieu Le in North Cornwall Township – a double transfer meaning that the applicant was requesting both a change of ownership and a change in municipality, in a single action – a hearing was held to determine whether Behney had a pecuniary interest in the license, which would eventually be used to open the Samler at 800 Cumberland St., as well as whether the City of Lebanon had standing for filing its petition to intervene late. That hearing was prompted by concerns Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello had about Behney’s suspected involvement in the restaurant.
In that 2013 hearing, Capello testified that initial contacts to the city regarding the proposed transfer were made by Behney. Capello told the PLCB that she was confused and surprised at the city hearing in August 2012 when instead she found that Derek Ninkovich was being presented as the one and only member of Ninkovich LLC.
Capello told the PLCB in the 2013 hearing that she had been assured by Ninkovich during the city hearing the previous year that he would be the sole operator of the establishment, which Behney had previously told her he intended to operate as Just Wing It Two.
City council approved the transfer in that August 2012 hearing, under the impression that Ninkovich would operate it as a family restaurant. However, after the hearing was held, Capello said she continued to hear from Behney over a variety of issues, and that building permits were paid with checks out of an account owned by Just Wing It, signed by Behney.
Also presented at the 2013 hearing was testimony from a PLCB licensing analyst who uncovered an $82,090 loan from Behney to Ninkovich, dated to Sept. 19, 2012, with 4% interest over an 8-year term and the Lieu Le liquor license used as collateral. LebTown was unable to determine the current status of the loan, and it is unclear whether Ninkovich remains indebted to his brother for the license now being considered for Palmyra.
The PLCB licensing analyst also noted that the original agreement of sale with Lieu Le was with Behney Enterprises LLC, but was later assigned to Ninkovich LLC in a further agreement. Behney Enterprises LLC had been registered in 2011 to the same address as Just Wing It in Lebanon, 761 Cumberland Street. Just Wing It LLC was registered the next year. LebTown was unable to confirm as of publication time which of the LLCs – or perhaps both of the LLCs at different times – were used to operate Just Wing It in Lebanon. Ruth noted that several outstanding unemployment judgements from the state were filed against Behney Enterprises LLC for operations at 761 Cumberland Street, suggesting that LLC was used to operate the restaurant for at least some period of time.
Regarding Just Wing It LLC, LebTown was unable to determine who exactly owns that entity at present. As with Ninkovich LLC, Just Wing It LLC’s state incorporation record does not list its members. Ruth said she was under the impression that Just Wing It LLC was owned solely by Nikki Meyer; however, the LLC was incorporated in 2012, predating Just Wing It Annville, and Behney has represented himself as the owner of Just Wing It in multiple venues. (According to state food safety inspections, the ‘Just Wing It’ establishment in Annville is operated by Meyer’s 18 E. Main, Inc, and it remains unclear legally-speaking what the formal link between Just Wing It LLC and the Annville establishment are – other than Chris Behney’s apparent role in both.)
Ultimately, the PLCB found that the city had missed its window to intervene in the double transfer, and so the extent of Behney’s pecuniary involvement in Ninkovich LLC became a moot point from the perspective of the state liquor agency.
(The Samler would later shutter in June 2018, right around the time the PLCB finalized a $1,500 case against the establishment for underage liquor sales.)
A similar issue occurred in Annville Township with a separate license, previously owned by Tate Spirit LLC in Lebanon, when in July 2016 Nikki Meyer sought approval for the transfer of the license to 18 E. Main St. where it would be used to offer alcohol at Just Wing It in Annville. According to meeting minutes, Meyer was asked at the hearing whether Behney had any involvement in Just Wing It Annville, and she indicated to the township commissioners that Behney did not have any active involvement. Meyer was quoted in minutes as saying that Behney had previously worked at the Annville location and helped her to get it established. That description represents a marked and unexplained change from the situation in August 2014, when the Daily News ran a feature story by reporter Brad Rhen in which Behney is described as the owner of the Just Wing It restaurants, and Meyer is described as Behney’s girlfriend and franchise partner.
Meyers’ comments at the July 2016 meeting were scrutinized deeply in a PLCB hearing in September 2017 over a proposed extension of the Just Wing It Annville bar area into an additional portion of the building. At that hearing, then-manager of the township Nick Yingst said that he had been asked by the commissioners to seek intervention by the PLCB over the proposed extension in part, he said, because the commissioners believed Meyer had mislead them about Behney’s involvement in her July 2016 testimony. (Also at issue was a significant increase in the number of tap handles installed in the new area of the bar compared to what had been stated in the original transfer hearing.)
Then-commissioner James Scott also testified on behalf of the township at the September 2017 PLCB hearing. Scott, who said he voted in favor of the transfer in 2016, told the PLCB that he had been assured Behney was not going to be involved in Just Wing It Annville. He characterized Behney’s involvement as the “crux of the matter” to the PLCB board.
“As it has turned out, he has been much more involved than we were led to believe,” said Scott, according to PLCB records.
Scott said later, again according to PLCB records, that he and the other commissioners “chose to believe Ms. Meyer. And we were disappointed.” (This hearing took place after the January 2017 incident involving Bugg, Behney, and Meyer at Just Wing It Annville, and Scott said the township was concerned because the incident had “given Annville a black eye in the nation.”)
Meyer, according to PLCB records, acknowledged that she made representations that Behney would have no involvement in the business, and claimed at that hearing to have lived up to her promises. Although Meyer stated at the time that she had no licensing agreement with Behney over the restaurant, she also said Behney had oversight over what wing flavors she served. Meyer did not specify what kind of flavor-specific intellectual property or licensing agreement this may have been, but did later compare the separate Just Wing It locations to McDonald’s, which has famously strong franchise agreements.
Behney was also by that time Meyer’s landlord, having purchased 18 E. Main St. after the transfer was approved. PLCB transcripts do not indicate whether Meyer was asked at any time if Behney may have financed her own liquor license purchase, as he did for Ninkovich.
The PLCB found that Annville Township had standing to object over Behney’s involvement, which the PLCB characterized as having the “opportunity and likelihood that (he) will continue to work periodically in this establishment, if not be a routine presence.”
The liquor board proposed that the extension at Just Wing It be approved if Meyer signed a conditional licensing agreement barring Behney’s presence on the premises in any employment capacity, regardless of compensation, or from having any interest in the operation of the license premises or the subject license in any manner other than as the landlord. That conditional licensing agreement was never signed, according to the PLCB.
As of today, Just Wing It Annville is closed, and the building has been rebranded to ‘Cocktails’ – the name once envisioned for the 800 Cumberland St. bar, according to PLCB records, which cited a May 2012 application for retail food facility plan review submitted to the city on behalf of “Cocktails Restaurant,” with Ninkovich and Behney both having been indicated at that time as responsible officials for the envisioned establishment.
Although the Cocktails bar and restaurant in Annville does not appear to be operating regularly at this point, it does have a few reviews, including a five-star review by an account which appears to be controlled by Behney.
Ninkovich’s lawyer, former PLCB attorney Jim Petrascu, did not respond to LebTown requests for comment. Attempts to reach Palmyra Borough Council president Beth Shearer were also unsuccessful.
Bugg’s attorney, Ruth, said that her participation in the hearing was to let the borough be aware of the outstanding judgement because Behney was the applicant for the intermunicipal license transfer.
“We wanted to let the borough know mostly because you guys had reported on it and let the public know the judgements were out there,” said Ruth. “We wanted the public to know that not only were those judgements secured, but they also remain unpaid by Chris Behney.”
Ruth said that she was not aware of Behney having financed the purchase of the Ninkovich LLC license. She said also that she’s not aware whether Meyer – who Ruth also characterized as Behney’s girlfriend – had received financing from Behney for the purchase of the license used for Just Wing It Annville. Ruth said that discovery in aid of execution was sent to Behney and Meyer but received no response. (Discovery in aid of execution is usually written interrogatories and document production requests requiring a defendant to reveal, under oath, what assets may be available to pay a judgement.)
Ruth noted as well that liquor licenses are considered privileges, and said that someone cannot obtain a lien against a license, so it was unclear how the license could have served as collateral for the loan.
Ruth said that if the borough believes that Ninkovich is going to be the one operating the proposed Palmyra restaurant, with Behney serving only as landlord, then they are “really not understanding the relationship between the two.”
“If anyone at Palmyra Borough thinks Chris Behney won’t be operating that location, I think they’re fooling themselves,” said Ruth. Her law firm has not heard anything from Behney, Meyer, or Ninkovich following the hearing, said Ruth, “nor did we expect to.”
Although borough council did discuss the issue in executive session on Oct. 24, no decision was made that evening except to invoke a 60-day extension for consideration of the issue.
That decision must be made by resolution at a public meeting, but there will not be an additional formal hearing at that time.
Palmyra Borough Council meets next at 7 p.m. on Nov. 14.
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