NEIGHBORS ASK CITY TO PULL LIQUOR LICENSES

Seven Establishments Breed Crime and Trouble, Residents Tell
Officials

Someone was killed there. High-school kids fight there. Drug deals go
down there.

Those are some reasons cited by residents who want seven Columbus
businesses to lose their liquor licenses. They said the businesses are
magnets for crime and other problems.

The city does go after businesses with several liquor violations
pending against them, Assistant City Attorney Bridget Carty said.

Owners contacted said they had recently bought the business or have
been working with the city to curb problems.

The City Council will vote Monday on the license renewals for the
seven businesses:

. Boogie Nights, 2013 Lockbourne Rd.

. Dirty Dungarees, 1944 Morse Rd.

. G & L Carryout, 54 E. 5 th Ave.

. Main and Wilson Convenience Mart, 1223 E. Main St.

. Quik Meat, a convenience store at 1198 E. Main St.

. Rhythm & Blues Cafe, 4428 Walford St.

. Stewart's Carryout, 691 E. Stewart Ave.

Boogie Nights was the scene of a killing June 11, when 19-year-old
Michael L. Carter was found shot in the parking lot.

In a letter to the city attorney's office in October, the Innis
Gardens Village Civic Association said that crime, drugs and
disturbances have risen because of bars in the area.

"The peace and serenity of the night is broken by the sound of police
sirens," the letter said, referring to 273 police runs to 12
businesses along Lockbourne between Frebis Avenue and Marion Road.

"This is not the kind of neighborhood we moved into and we do not want
this type of neighborhood now," the letter said.

A phone message left at the address of the permit holder for Boogie
Nights was not returned yesterday.

Stewart's Carryout, behind South High School, is known to neighbors as
Bulldog Corner because it's often chosen as the site for after-school
fights, said community leader Dan Charles. Charles, who lives near the
store, said it is a magnet for drug activity and a threat to the
neighborhood, so much so that he installed a surveillance system on
his house.

"The place needs to disappear," Charles said.

He calls the building "a pigsty."

Carty said the city this week filed a nuisance action to try to close
the business down for a year.

The new owner of Stewart's, Raed Alghazzawi, is in the process of
obtaining the liquor license. He contends there are no problems around
the store.

"A year-and-a-half ago someone got shot," outside the store, said
Alghazzawi, who has a drug-trafficking charge pending against him,
according to information from the city and Franklin County courts.

A co-owner of the Main and Wilson Convenience Mart, Ayman Rawahnih
said the owners have been working with the community to rid crime from
the area. Police investigated the store for receiving stolen property
in April.

"It was bad when we took over," said Rawahnih, who said he's co-owned
the store for three years. "I can't lose my liquor license."

Kathy Webb of the Olde Towne East Block Watch complained of drugs
deals and prostitution outside the store.

Even if the council objects to the permit renewals, the cases usually
are resolved slowly.

The city must file its objections with the state by Jan. 1. Then a
hearing officer will make a recommendation to the state liquor control
superintendent, said Denise Lee, an Ohio Division of Liquor Control
spokeswoman.

Whatever the superintendent's decides then can be appealed to the Ohio
Liquor Control Commission, and that ruling can be appealed to a common
pleas court.

In the meantime, permit holders can continue to operate, Lee
said.

The liquor licenses are due for renewal Feb. 1.