The city is trying to
close a Lumberton nightclub as a nuisance after the shooting
death of a bouncer last month.
Michael Chavis, a
security guard at Players, was shot to death March 4 while
trying to break up a fight.
The club, on Lackey
Street, has been closed for several weekends.
The state Division of
Alcohol Law Enforcement revoked the club’s alcohol license March
7. ALE officials say there has been a string of problems at the
club, including shootings, fights and alcohol and drug
violations.
Club owner Verlyn Jones
has said she plans to fight the revocation of her club’s
license.
One of her lawyers,
David Courie of Fayetteville, said the suspension was based on
the location allegedly being unfit or unsafe for an Alcoholic
Beverage Control permit.
“Nowhere or at no time
had it been alleged that Ms. Jones was unfit or did anything
wrong,” he said. “The number of years she has had her permit,
she has done a good job of running and managing the club. It is
an action against the location and not Ms. Jones.”
Courie said Jones also
plans to defend against any efforts of a nuisance action.
City Attorney Kevin
Whiteheart said the shooting death of the bouncer was the latest
in a series of events that brought Players to the attention of
the city and the ALE.
The city follows the
state nuisance statute regarding businesses, Whiteheart said.
The city has an ordinance, but it’s not as thorough nor does it
have as much enforcement capability as the state statute, he
said.
Investigators with the
ALE will look at activities that have occurred at the club that
would be considered harmful to health and safety. That would
include noise, alcohol and drug violations, drunken driving
arrests, illegal weapons seized, assaults and homicides.
Once the investigation
is completed and a lawsuit filed, it could take six months to a
year to close the club, Whiteheart said.
The ALE is helping with
the nuisance investigation, said Alan Fields, special agent in
charge of the Alcohol Law Enforcement office in Fayetteville.
The state agency also
is monitoring activities at Club N’ Motion and El Tenampa. Both
are on Lackey Street. Club N’ Motion and Players are in the same
shopping center off Interstate 95. El Tenampa is about a quarter
mile away.
“We are just monitoring
activities to ensure problems won’t escalate,” Fields said. “If
so, we will deal with it accordingly. We will do everything we
can to help the Police Department and the city of Lumberton with
the problems down there. Hopefully, we can come up with a
permanent solution.”
The Lumberton Police
Department also plans to continue monitoring the area.
- Earlier this month, Police Chief
Robert Grice said authorities may consider the area a
nuisance. He said the clubs in the area have a history of
problems.
Since January 2006,
Lumberton police have received 89 complaints against Players,
including a shooting, weapons violations, assaults and alcohol
and drug violations. The department received 62 complaints
against Club N’ Motion involving vandalism, assaults and drug
and alcohol violations. El Tenampa had 12 complaints against it,
mostly noise violations.
In 2000, two people
were killed in the parking lot of the former Carrey’s Night Life
after a private party. That club is now Club N’ Motion. Last
year, a Players security guard was involved in a shooting that
left a man paralyzed.
“I think what we are
going to have to do is approach it one business at a time and
see what happens,” Grice said. “We hope to be able to bring
things under control. Our goal is not to shut people down, but
to create an environment that is safe for the citizens. We
expect the club operators to operate in such a manner. They have
a certain responsibility to ensure the safety of their patrons.”
Part of the problem,
Grice said, is a lack of training for the clubs’ security
guards.
“Sometimes it gets out
of hand and beyond their control,” he said. “It creates a real
problem.”
Sherri Bridgeman, who
owns Club N’ Motion, said she shouldn’t be penalized because of
what happens at other nightclubs.
“That’s discrimination.
You can’t discriminate against me because of what someone else
did,” she said.
Bridgeman, who has
operated the club for more than a year, said she does everything
she can to ensure a safe environment for patrons. Security
guards search patrons, and they are required to take off their
shoes to be checked for weapons. The club also contracts
security guards, she said.
“We try to keep the
wannabe thugs out,” she said. “We haven’t had problems at my
establishment as far as people being shot, cut, paralyzed or
dead.”
Bridgeman also changed
the minimum age requirement for entry from 18 to 21.
Lumberton police have
been in the club’s parking lot for the past two weeks. Bridgeman
said it was a welcome sight.
“I spoke with them and
told them I would prefer if they were in my parking lot every
weekend,” she said. “That way, people won’t act stupid, and if
they did, we would have some backup.”
Councilman Erich Von
Hackney, whose district includes the nightclubs, said he would
like to see them closed.
“Since I have been on
the City Council they have been nothing but a thorn in my side,”
Hackney said. “They create an atmosphere that draws and breathes
criminal activity. The people that they draw don’t even come
from the city of Lumberton. They come from the county and
outside of the county. They come, they cause problems and the
Police Department tries to clean up the mess.
“If I had it my way, I
would close them all today,” Hackney said. “But we have to go
through the legal process, and that is what we plan to do.”
