Roadhouse to open as Aurora Bar N Grill maybe Thurs

“It’s been a crazy ride,” January said this week of restarting the area’s only traditional nightclub. “It’s been a big huge struggle, and it’s something I’m committed to changing.”

He said he took over controlling interest at the beginning of November. The Los Angeles native’s wife, Katie, is from the area and works in Canada.

He said he’s had his ups and downs in business. But in a small town, January’s white collar felony criminal record along with a radical business plan for what’s an institution to many, has been the subject of gossip and digital-age rants.

Meanwhile, though, his friends and family have stood behind him.

“It has to be broadcasted out since the whole town is talking,” wrote Jaeme Dominguez, January’s “representative” in a recent Aurora Facebook page post. “The deliberate slander of him in the borderland area is just ridiculous... No one is perfect and unfortunately he was involved with things and people in his past that he is not proud of.

“He is not ashamed to answer questions pertaining to his past. He was completely innocent in the allegations. BTW (By the way) there are laws to protect him against slander on the internet so be careful of what you post.”

While suffering from stomach cancer a few years ago (which he said he’s since beat), he also was in a breakup with his now wife and a custody battle with his ex. January said he quit fighting the criminal allegations against him for identity theft and swindling in the Twin Cities so he could devote what energy he had to his personal life.

While innocent, January claimed, he took the blame for several separate incidents combined into one case.

January said, obviously, he doesn’t want the focus to be on the negative, although he knows it needs to be addressed here to move on truly.

“It’s exciting,” said Katie of the bar and other job development plans he has in store for her hometown later.

Maybe not so exciting yet, though. The entrepreneur’s certainly a ball of energy. Then, suddenly he’s still as he sifts through his phone, computer files and reams of paperwork and proudly holds up his recently approved liquor license.

He said he’s being extra conscious in tracking every dollar while keeping the government completely apprised of his actions. The rebuild involves renovating bathrooms and replacing carpeting, stools, bar tops, a dance floor and more than 30 flat-screen TVs, all with local workers.

The Aurora was named in a contest “not to try to take away memories but to try to start new ones,” January said. He wants to have the ceiling be painted and lighted to represent the northern lights, he said.

It also will be a sports bar, event center, disco with theme nights, and have games and a restaurant, he said.

“It’s going to look totally new by the summer,” he said, hopefully by June, and with a staff of up to 25.

The plans also include an outdoor fireplace, VIP room and eventually new siding, signage and entrance.

“It’s gonna be some good eats,” said kitchen manager and cook Brett Eidman of the more traditional bar menu, with jo jo’s, specialty burgers, his own fiery wings and a four-pound contest burger. “The menu’s all designed around things no one else around here has.”

What he will keep is the Roadhouse’s pizza with Alice’s signature sauce – which January wants to offer for delivery – as well as the free courtesy buses. He said he’s going to target Canadian clientele, too, since the population is greater in Fort Frances.

After a year, January said he will purchase all the bars’ assets outright from local property owner Carl Brown with a contract for deed. In the meantime, he said he’s been using his own money to pay back taxes he doesn’t owe, so the business is “all above board.”

“We are making it right,” he said. “Once people see (I’m committed), then they’ll get into it.”

Almost a year ago, two young men took over the bar, but it failed. He’s taken one of them under his wing, January said.

For his part, January said his business experience is “very, very extensive.” He said he used to have ownership or controlling interests in ventures including mortgages sales, telemarketing and real estate. He also said he’s “a certified genius” with five total bachelor of arts and master’s degrees from the University of Colorado.

While “Joose” may often refer to himself in the third person, that kind of self promotion apparently has served him well.

He said made a hefty sum in the mid-2000s leasing the name’s rights to the eponymous energy drink made by United Brands Partners of California. He was able to do so, January said, because they wanted it; and he’d already trademarked the name for Joose Enterprises.

But not all publicity is good, Internet searches show January was convicted of two felonies as recently as February after pleading guilty in an agreement with Dakota County prosecutors.

The initial story, but without a follow-up piece, can be found at burnsville.patch.com. January told The Journal that the claims in the stories, evidently based on multiple police investigations, reports and criminal charges, are filled with lies by so-called victims (except for the one woman whose credit card information was stolen, he said).

“I never ever had the lady’s credit card,” January said. But added he felt at fault because he didn’t rectify the situation as part owner of a St. Paul-based debt-collection agency.

He said his convictions were both the result of awful personal timing as well as being taken advantage of by an employee who’s since left the country and two former business partners who said they wanted to flip homes but really were involved in drugs.

However, despite January’s claims, records show that prosecutors filed the charges. And a judge held hearings and still sentenced him to 60 days in jail, 10 years of supervised probation and almost $7,000 in restitution.

“When I saw all the evidence later, I could have got off on all the charges,” January said. “I didn’t know it was going to affect my life as much as it has. All the challenges made me give up. The only thing I was guilty of is being in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people.”

January said what he’s always been guilty of is being too trusting of people and been “bamboozled” too many times. “My wife is nodding at me right now,” he said over the phone while laughing.