- Rumors going dry for month
-
Club's liquor license suspended
after security guard stabbings
A favorite watering hole for many
in Redding is temporarily going dry.
The state Department of Alcoholic
Beverage Control (ABC) is suspending for 30 days the liquor license for Rumors
nightclub, where two security guards were stabbed during the early hours of
April 15.
But the action may be moot.
Inderjit Grewal, who, along with
his wife, Manvir, took over the ownership of nightclub on Sunday, said the
business will be closed for remodeling for about 45 days.
Grewal said the club will reopen
with a new name -- Club 151 -- and said he will work with ABC officials and
police to ensure the club won't cause problems once it's in business.
"It will be an extremely classy
place," he said. "We want to try to create a showcase that Redding can be proud
of."
John Carr, an ABC spokesman, said
Monday that the Bechelli Lane nightclub has been giving Redding police trouble
for more than a year because of numerous fights and other problems there.
ABC investigators today are
posting a notice at the bar that its liquor license has been suspended, Carr
said, adding that bar has been "allowing too much disorderly conduct," including
fights and public drunkenness.
Redding Police Chief Leonard Moty
said his officers have responded during the past 15 months more than 180 times
to the nightclub, adding that the numerous calls "puts a tremendous strain on
our resources."
In addition to disorderly conduct
problems, Carr said that the ABC also was able to substantiate that the bar sold
alcoholic beverages to two people who were "obviously" intoxicated, a violation
of the California Business and Professions Code.
The license suspension comes
little more than a week after two security guards were stabbed at the nightclub.
Although no one has yet been
arrested in that stabbing, an arrest warrant was issued last week for a
23-year-old Red Bluff suspect, identified as Ray Ray Cain, aka Ray Gomez Jr. The
warrant charges Cain with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
The guards -- Kenneth Remund, 26,
and Ralph Reilly, 41, both of Redding -- have been released from a Redding
hospital. The Shasta County Secret Witness program had posted up to a $1,000
reward for information leading to the location and arrest of Cain. Secret
Witness is at 243-2319.
