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Bar owner to sell but continue with suit
The former bar owner says he will not do business in Warren.
WARREN — Embattled city bar owner Lashawn Ziegler says he is out of the bar business for good, but his lawsuit against the city stands.
Ziegler, 35, who gave his address as his Benji Brown’s Bar and Grill on North Park Avenue, appeared in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court on Tuesday for a hearing to determine whether his bar would be declared a nuisance and remain closed. By the end of the hearing Ziegler had agreed to sell the property back to its previous owner and leave the bar business.
City crews barricaded the doors and windows of the two-story building with plywood in early April after an order by Judge John M. Stuard. Nearby residents cheered as the doors were locked.
Judge Stuard’s order came after a raid conducted by agents of the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Ohio Investigative Unit and the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Special Response Team. Seized, authorities said, were 800 partially filled or full bottles of alcohol, two bags of suspected marijuana and some bills.
Ziegler and his attorney Gilbert Rucker say closing of the bar is an example of how Ziegler has been unfairly targeted by the city while conducting business at the North Park Avenue facility and his former business 77 Soul on Youngstown Road. The Youngstown Road facility was closed for violations in 2004.
“The information that I have is that the entire action was discriminatory against Mr. Ziegler. He since 2002 has consistently undergone actions that are discriminatory in nature,” said Rucker.
Rucker points to calls to police for service at Benji Brown’s that he says turned out to be unsubstantiated after police investigation, compared with calls he says were much more serious at other area bars. Benji Brown’s, he said, was targeted not for the events at the bar, but because of its ownership.
“We just choose to stick our heads in the ground and believe there is no discrimination,” he said. “I let the facts speak for themselves.”
Law Director Gregory Hicks called Rucker’s comments “ludicrous.”
Hicks said Ziegler has not been targeted by the city. He said any dealings Ziegler has had with city officials are because of wrongdoing on the part of Ziegler — in the most recent case, the illegal alcohol in the establishment he owns.
“That is what made it a nuisance, that they were selling illegal liquor and destroying the peace and tranquillity of the neighborhood,” said Hicks. “No one is targeting anyone who is a law-abiding citizen. We only go after bad guys.”
Hicks said that if Ziegler should decide to open a liquor establishment in the future, the application would be reviewed as with any other applicant.
Ziegler said a future liquor establishment under his ownership in Warren is unlikely.
“There is a lot to think about, but I can’t see me doing business in the city of Warren,” he said.
Still, Ziegler and his attorney are resolved in their effort to go forward with a lawsuit filed against the city for discrimination after Benji Brown’s was closed.
Ziegler filed a $700,000 lawsuit against the city, saying his bar was padlocked because of his race. In a lawsuit filed in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court, Ziegler said he does not have equal protection under the law as guaranteed white residents.
jgoodwin@vindy.com