Sentencing of business owner postponed
staff report
NILES—Sentencing of Robert Leonard, the first business owner convicted under the city’s revised noise ordinance, has been postponed until Dec. 30 at the request of Leonard’s attorney Patrick Perry.
Leonard was to have been sentenced Wednesday, but Perry said his “client was unavailable.” No further explanation was given for the absence.
Leonard, the owner of McMenamy’s, a bar and restaurant on Youngstown-Warren Road, had been found guilty earlier this month by Municipal Court Judge Thomas Townley after he was cited last May by a Niles police officer. At the time, McMenamy’s was having a concert on behalf of the American Cancer Society. The ordinance contains an exception for such charity events, but only until midnight. Police said the music continued past the cut-off time. Leonard faces a $100 fine, but Perry said earlier that he plans to appeal based on his belief that the ordinance is unconstitutional. Perry earlier called the revised law “a zoning ordinance in disguise” aimed strictly at Leonard and McMenamy’s.
City council passed the revision into law last April after residents complained for more than a year about the loud music emanating from McMenamy’s.