Activist and former Salt Lake City mayoral candidate Michael Valentine, as he promised, has filed a lawsuit against Utah’s liquor agency and its governing board, arguing that they improperly denied his Ballpark-area bar a license to sell alcohol.

Valentine, aka Michael Patton, and his cider-making company, Six Sailor Cider LLC, filed a complaint in 3rd District Court on Thursday against the Utah Department of Alcoholic Beverage Services and the commission that oversees the agency.

In the lawsuit, Valentine asks a state judge to void the DABS commission’s May 29 vote to deny a liquor license to his bar, Apparition — because, the complaint argues, the board violated the state’s Open and Public Meetings Act. As an alternative, the lawsuit asks for a judge to issue an order to change the c

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