AUSTINTOWN Owner plans to reopen club

State law allowed police to charge The Mill's owner for an assault at the club.
By IAN HILL
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
AUSTINTOWN -- The owner of the now-closed The Mill nightclub is facing a $15,000 bill for unpaid rent, a $1,000 fine on an assault charge, and uncertainty over the future of her liquor permit.
Dorothea Wydick also is planning to reopen a nightclub in the Wedgewood Plaza storefront location that housed The Mill until it closed about six months ago.
Atty. Martin Yavorcik, who represents Wydick, said he believes the club could remain The Mill and be open later this summer or fall.
Residents who live behind the plaza, meanwhile, say they don't want another noisy nightclub in their back yards.
Yavorcik was in Mahoning County Court on Wednesday to answer a notice to Country Productions Inc., Wydick's corporation, for unpaid rent.
As a result of court negotiations, Wydick agreed to pay the unpaid rent by July 18, and the corporation's lease was extended until June 2008.
Liquor issue
Wydick also is the president of Nite Clubs of Ohio Inc., which was the name on the lease until it was renewed in December 2001. The name on the lease was then changed to Country Productions, Inc.
Nite Clubs of Ohio also is the name on the club's liquor license. A spokesman for the Ohio Division of Liquor Control said state compliance officers will check to determine if Wydick violated state liquor laws by not listing Country Productions on the liquor license.
Liquor control officials also want to know why they were not notified that The Mill would be closed for more than 30 days. Under state regulations, a liquor license can be suspended or revoked if the state agency is not notified that the business using the liquor license will be closed for more than 30 days.
State regulations also say that a business that uses a liquor license cannot be closed for more than six months without "good cause."
The Mill has been closed since winter. A sign on the door says "Closed. Heating problem."
Township trustees also have filed an objection with the liquor control division to the renewal of the club's liquor license.
Closed voluntarily
Yavorcik said Wydick closed the club voluntarily to avoid possible future prosecution. He stressed that Wydick doesn't want to cause trouble for the township or The Mill's neighbors, and that she is willing to work with trustees and residents to address their concerns.
Thomas Shutrump, Wedgewood Plaza manager, said Wydick had "a new slate" after the negotiations.
"I think a new leaf is being turned," he said. "We're certainly interested in not causing the neighbors any headache."
Neighbors complain
Police said they received 173 calls about The Mill between November 2001 and November 2002, including several from Laurie Drive residents complaining about noise and fights at the club. Laurie Drive is behind the plaza.
Laurie Drive resident Carol Yohman said she isn't sure why someone would want to open a nightclub behind her house on Laurie Drive. "You don't put a club in the middle of a neighborhood," she said.
Other Laurie Drive residents said the noise from the club's parking lot after it closed at 2 a.m. made it hard to sleep, and that beer bottles were thrown into their yards from the club parking lot.
John A. Schatzel said his parents, who live behind the club, once had a car drive from the parking lot through their back yard fence.
Beatings
Police charged Nite Clubs of Ohio with menacing and two counts of assault as a result of a report that two men were beaten by club bouncers July 19, 2002. Wydick was served with the charges as president of the corporation.
State law allows a corporation to be charged with a crime if the crime was "authorized, requested, commanded, tolerated, or performed by the board of directors, trustees, partners, or by a high managerial officer, agent, or employee acting in behalf of the organization and within the scope of his office or employment."
Wydick pleaded no contest to one of the assault charges, was found guilty, and was ordered to pay a $1,000 fine and given a 180-day suspended jail sentence and six months of probation. Yavorcik said she is appealing because she believes the court did not have the legal ability to sentence her to jail.
The menacing charge and the second assault charge were dropped.
Bouncer Wayman Jackson Jr. also was charged by police with two counts of assault as a result of the beating. He pleaded guilty to two reduced counts of disorderly conduct and was fined $100, given a 30-day suspended jail sentence, and ordered to serve six months probation. He also was ordered not to have contact with The Mill.
Nite Clubs of Ohio also received two citations from the Ohio Department of Public Safety's Investigative Unit for violating state liquor laws as a result of the reported beatings. The investigative unit also cited Nite Clubs of Ohio after police received a report that a bouncer had threatened people outside the club July 26, 2002.
Hearings for the citations have yet to be scheduled.
Yavorcik suggested that Wydick hire off-duty county deputy sheriffs to provide security, a move that he thinks will discourage people under 21 from trying to buy liquor at the club.
"She doesn't want problems with the administration. She doesn't want problems with the police. But she has a right to run a club, a right to run a business as long as it's in accordance with the law," Yavorcik added.
Lease stipulation
The lease for the Wedgewood Plaza storefront states that Wydick's corporations can be evicted if the storefront is "used or occupied in any manner that is contrary to law."
Some residents said they felt a new club or bar would cause the same problems as The Mill if it served alcohol.
"If they can come in and run a respectable business that's not going to have the loud music and doesn't attract the problems after closing ... I would accept that," said resident Ed Stiner. "I think that's hard to do when you serve alcohol."
hill@vindy.com