Mike Carrafa, once the owner of one of the town’s most popular nightspots, won’t give city council a rest.

His wife, Noreen, asked the council to approve a liquor license under her name for a new bar – the Doc Holliday Saloon – to open on Allen Street this fall. The council punted, but the Carrafas aren’t done yet.

When the item came up for a vote Aug. 30, the council remained silent for almost 30 seconds before deciding not to make a decision.

City Attorney Randy Bays argued the license should include both Mike and Noreen Carrafa’s names because they are married and the bar should be considered community property in the meeting.

Mike Carrafa then addressed the council. “There is nothing that says it has to be under both names,” he said. “This is my wife's business. I run a completely different business.”

Council members refused to comment on the matter.

Mike Carrafa sees this as another example of butting heads with city leadership—something he’s done before.

“It sounds to me like a little double dealing here because of certain people in this town,” Carrafa said at the meeting.

This issue all traces back to bad blood when Allen Street business owners didn’t like Carrafa’s Six Gun City saloon passing out fliers and attracting customers. Those complaints led to a solicitation ordinance that limited how Tombstone entrepreneurs could advertise their wares, Carrafa said.

Then came a slew of run-ins with city leadership. Mike Carrafa was arrested by the marshal for violating that ordinance. He was ejected from a city council meeting in October 2009 after suggesting former Mayor Dusty Escapule’s wife seemed to be exempt from the solicitation ordinance.

Last December, Six Gun City burned down. Ten months later, the marshal’s office still has not completed an investigation into the cause of that fire.

Shortly after the fire, Mike Carrafa got council approval to extend the liquor license to the Allen Street location, but in January, state officials shut down that bar.

“It’s like more than high school. It’s up to them. I don’t have any animosity towards people but I thought they were my friends,” Mike Carrafa said.

Council or no, "we're getting this license anyway. Its just a formality,” Noreen Carrafa said.

The mayor was equally nonplussed.

“It was a courtesy approval—the city has no say in a liquor license,” Mayor Jack Henderson said.

Tombstone has 19 active liquor licenses and three are pending, including Doc Holliday.