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City council objects to license renewal
By Ed Runyan
WARREN
By a 9-0 vote, city council has objected to the renewal of the liquor license for an East Market Street tavern known as Sunset Lounge and Blue Magoo’s Tap and Grill.
Councilman Greg Bartholomew says the objection comes after Warren police received 22 calls for service to the business since it opened in March.
Calls were for fights, vehicle theft, a traffic accident, suspicious vehicles and people, disturbances and alarms.
The resolution also follows an Aug. 2 inspection by the Ohio Department of Public Safety in which agents reported that they found that LaShawn Ziegler of Warren had been participating in the operation of the tavern.
Ziegler, 40, was sentenced to five years’ probation in April 2010 after pleading guilty to receiving stolen property, tampering with records, falsification, marijuana possession and marijuana trafficking.
Among the terms of his probation were that he not enter any bars, taverns or liquor establishments, according to court documents.
But state liquor agents determined that Ziegler had participated in the operation of the Sunset Lounge in various ways since April.
According to documents city council members were given, Ziegler had applied for the tavern’s food-service license and wrote the check for the license.
Ziegler ran two previous taverns, both of which were shut down by the city.
Ziegler owned the nightclub 77 Soul on Youngstown Road, which the city closed for building violations. Later, Ziegler ran Benji Brown’s Bar and Grill on North Park Avenue, which was raided in April 2008 and found to be operating with no liquor permit.
Atty. Dennis DiMartino, who represents Ziegler, told council members at a committee meeting before the vote that Ziegler “did have an interest at one time” in the Sunset Lounge but has no ownership in it.
He added that the need for police assistance at the tavern would have been reduced if the city would have agreed to allow off-duty Warren police officers to work at the tavern.