AUSTINTOWN Club manager misses hearing, faces charge

The club's attorney said he was not told of the trial date for the noise violation.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- Township trustees will have another topic to discuss when they next talk about the future of The Mill nightclub: the arrest of the club's manager.
Christian Rinehart, 26, of Lemans Drive, Boardman, was arrested at 12:40 a.m. Friday at the South Raccoon Road club. He was to have appeared in Mahoning County Court on Thursday morning for a trial on a noise violation.
Rinehart was taken to the Mahoning County Jail and later released by Judge David D'Apolito. He is to be arraigned on the failure to appear charge at 1 p.m. Monday.
The club was cited about 1 a.m. Oct. 1 on an excessive noise charge. The citation states that "numerous warnings went ignored and the problem was not corrected by management."
Police reports state that the club's staff has been warned about excessive noise eight times since June 2.
Atty. Scott Cochran, who represents The Mill, said he was not informed of the noise trial date by the court's bailiff.
Fights, vandalism: Police also have been called to the club's parking lot on several occasions in response to reports of fights, vandalism and theft.
The reports of crime at The Mill have led trustees to ask police to oppose attempts to renew its liquor license. Trustees said, however, they would consider withdrawing that request if The Mill's owners improve security in the next few months.
Trustees said they are willing to work with The Mill's owners to address the problems.
Trustee Jeff Groat said Rinehart's arrest "shows a lack of sincerity on behalf of the ownership and management" to address the problems.
However, Cochran said that he doesn't think trustees will hold the arrest against The Mill once they are informed that he was not told of the trial date. He added that he and his clients had a "very positive" meeting with township Administrator Michael Dockry on Dec. 7.
Cochran said that at that meeting, The Mill's management learned that trustees had several concerns about crime in the parking lot and not inside the club. He said that he plans to talk about the par3king lot with The Mill's landlord.
Overdose: Police also were called to The Mill late Thursday night to investigate a possible drug overdose.
Reports state that a 21-year-old Boardman man was found lying in the club's parking lot about 11:30 p.m. having a seizure.
A friend of the man told police the man had an eye-dropper bottle that contained a suspected illegal drug. The bottle was given to police.
Police also cited an East Palestine woman for fighting as she left The Mill late Thursday night.
Groat noted that the club's ownership and management had promised to work with the trustees and improve security before the trustees asked the police to oppose renewal of the liquor license.
"As in the past, this is starting to appear more and more like the empty promises they've made without any substantial results," Groat said.
He added that the police reports from Thursday night are, "indicative of the behavior we've been complaining about for months."
hill@vindicator.com