Rexburg watering hole makes its last last call

REXBURG, Idaho – They’ll have to cry in their milk in this Mormon town from now on.

Miller’s Hideaway is no more, leaving this alcohol-eschewing bastion of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints without a single watering hole.

Owners Sherrie and Jim Miller said business had run dry by the time the place closed in March – especially after officers with the Rexburg Police Department targeted patrons leaving the parking lot for frequent traffic stops.

“They didn’t like being watched so close,” Jim Miller said. “A lot of people were being pulled over constantly.”

Police say the Millers’ repeated complaints during their 11 years of operation were unfounded.

“We’ve dealt with them since they opened, accusing us of putting patrol cars out there,” said Capt. Randy Lewis. “We do not randomly stop people.

Thirty years ago, locals say, there were five bars.

Now, the closest place to wet your whistle is in St. Anthony, a few miles to the north.

Rexburg, population 43,000, is a college town, but nearly all of the 12,000 students at Brigham Young University-Idaho belong to the Mormon faith.

Coffee, another Mormon no-no, is also a rarity.

Rexburg is the kind of place where ice-cream parlors, not nightlife, are the toast of the town, said Donna Benfield, executive director of the Rexburg Chamber of Commerce.

“There are still lots of things to do here,” Benfield told the Idaho Falls Post Register. “The college has an entertainment series that brings in some great groups, we have several very nice restaurants … a huge movie theater, bowling and games for the kids.”

One bright spot: Though the demand for booze is down, the market for property is up.

“We sold the building for over twice what we paid for it,” Jim Miller said.