Schuylkill Haven business served cease and desist
By Caleb Brown (News Director)
It was an average Thursday for Lori Michael as she began to open her mail. She was expecting a
variance from the Borough of Schuylkill Haven. Instead, she received a cease and desist.
The Letter and a Post
On October 16th, Borough Zoning and Code Administrator Michael Paulin sent the cease and
desist letter. Part of it read that the property “has undergone an unauthorized change of use.”
Going further, it read, “The property is currently being used, or is proposed to be used as an
event and entertainment rental facility (including weddings, live bands, catering functions, and
similar activities)” before stating none of those were permitted in the I-1 Industrial Zoning
District under borough ordinance.
In a previous post to the business Facebook page, Main Street Moonshine Distillery and
Resturant announced, “We would like to give a heartfelt thank you to everyone for their
continuous support over the years with the restaurant, but it is with heavy hearts that we
announce that today is the last day it will be open serving food (10/10/2025) from 12-7 pm.
We will be switching gears to become an event venue with trivia nights, line dancing, bands,
karaoke, open mic nights, weddings, parties, off-site sales, etc. Catering will still be available for
parties. We will still be open for moonshine jar sales, but the hours will be changing. Please keep
an eye on our site for a change in hours and for upcoming events.”
Michael Speaks
Since 2012, Lori Michael has owned Main Street Moonshine Distillery and Restaurant in
Schuylkill Haven. The letter came as a shock to her.
“They called me on Tuesday and told me we could not open an event venue, which is what we
wanted to concentrate on,” Michael stated. She clarified that the reason for closing the restaurant
was due to a lack of help running it. That was when the idea of becoming an event venue
emerged.
“But we hadn’t done that yet,” she claimed. “We’re still doing the same things we’ve always
done.” She went on to say, “They shut everything down except the distillery portion. We can do
tastings, and I can give them chips as a palate cleanser, and that’s it.”
She further went on to state, “Now I got a restaurant license that I am required to have a
restaurant in order to sell the alcohol through the PLCB, and they won’t let me do it.”
According to pa.gov, the restaurant liquor license lists “A restaurant (R) licensed establishment,
as defined in the Liquor Code, is to be habitually and principally used in the preparation and
service of food to the public.”
She claims the call she received on Tuesday was from Paulin. Michael claims she was told they
could not become an event venue. She claimed Paulin said he would be sending her a letter and
that she would need to come in and file for a variance. On Thursday, what came in the mail was
the cease and desist. She stated there was no indication of how to even file for the variance.
“And now they’re saying we should have gotten a variance to open the restaurant when, for the
restaurant liquor license, they had to say it was okay for us to do that.”
Michael claims they did not have one zoning violation before going on to talk about filing for the
variance if they chose to do so. “If we chose to do that, then we would have to bring the building
up to 2025 code, which is impossible and horribly expensive.”
Response from Paulin
Paulin was contacted by CC Broadcasting staff via email. In response to the inquiry, he
respectfully declined to comment, believing it would be “inappropriate” to do so due to potential
legal litigation resulting from this matter.
Response from Mayor
CC Broadcasting also attempted to reach out to Schuylkill Haven Mayor Michael Devlin for
comment. At the time of writing, no response has been received to our inquiries.
CC Broadcasting will continue to report on this story as it develops.