A Monessen businessman pushing for the closure of a city bar has garnered the attention of state law enforcement and the Westmoreland County district attorney.
Ron Mozer, owner of Crystalline Technology LLC, is spearheading the charge to put the S&H Lounge out of business.
According to Monessen police Chief John Mandarino, approximately 15 to 20 “serious incidents” have occurred since the bar — located at the corner of Schoonmaker Avenue and Parente Boulevard — opened in February 2012.
“These aren't parking complaints … these are fights, shootings and stabbings,” the chief said. “My job as police chief is to make sure the citizens are safe. You can't feel safe when you drive past with your wife and kids and hope you don't get hit with a stray bullet.”
Mozer has organized a “town hall meeting” for concerned residents and fellow business owners to meet with law enforcement officials. The meeting begins at 1 p.m. Friday on the fourth floor conference room in the Monessen Municipal Complex, 1 Wendell Ramey Lane.
Westmoreland County District Attorney John Peck said he will attend the gathering. He will be joined by representatives from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board and State Police Bureau of Liquor Control Enforcement, along with Mandarino and city officials, including Mayor Lou Mavrakis.
“I'm going to make a presentation, I'm going to ask Chief Mandarino to say a few words and then we want to hear from the public,” Mozer said.
History of the S&H
The bar is running under a temporary license issued from the LCB to owner Howard C. Holmes of Monessen. The existing license expired in June.
According to Liquor Enforcement Officer Santo “Sonny” Bonadio, Holmes applied for a license renewal that has not yet been granted by the state Liquor Control Board.
In another twist, Holmes is attempting to sell the license to William “Billy T” Tansmore of Monessen, but the sale cannot go through until the license is renewed.
Several attempts by The Valley Independent to reach Holmes and Tansmore were unsuccessful.
Tansmore owned and operated the former Billy T's bar on Knox Avenue, which Westmoreland County Judge Daniel Ackerman declared a nuisance bar and ordered closed in June 2009.
Monessen police had documented more than 30 incidents of illegal drug activity, shootings and other disruptions in and around the business.
At the time, Tansmore claimed those incidents were caused by residents in the area and occurred independently of his establishment. When police closed his bar after the judicial order, Tansmore claimed the move was racially based — an assertion police denied.
The bar's liquor license was then essentially placed in escrow for one year with the LCB, although Tansmore retained ownership.
In October 2009, Tansmore purchased the building that currently houses the S&H from Charles McGovern.
In February 2011, Tansmore's request to move his business into the new location was denied by the Monessen Zoning Board of Appeals.
Tansmore appealed and the board eventually reversed its decision after Holmes — a friend of Tansmore — acquired a conditional licensing agreement from the LCB.
The S&H opened in February 2012 with Holmes maintaining ownership of the liquor license.
Bonadio said Holmes was fined $1,700 on Nov. 20 for a handful of violations at the bar, including illegal gambling, failure to maintain complete records and other purported administrative violations. The officer also said the bar was issued several warnings for loud music.
Bonadio said if the LCB renews the liquor license and permits the sale back to Tansmore, any record against the license will essentially be wiped clean. The renewed license would be effective for the next two years.
Following a handful of violent altercations and alleged drug activity in and outside the S&H, Mandarino said police have spoken with Tansmore, who manages the bar on a daily basis.
“We've made suggestions to him, and the situation hasn't improved. In fact, it's becoming more and more rampant,” Mandarino said. “It's the same thing as before when he ran Billy T's. He has not learned his lesson. He doesn't realize if his bar wasn't there, these people wouldn't be there creating problems.”
Both Mozer and Mandarino said that although the S&H is largely patronized by African-Americans, race should not be an issue.
“Quite honestly, this is twice he has operated a bar that have both times become public nuisances,” Mozer said. “I don't have anything personally against (Tansmore) or the bar, but bars need to be responsible citizens just like any other business in the community.”
Mozer, who supplies cameras for several police departments and private business in the Mid-Mon Valley, said the Okay Lodge on Knox Avenue — a predominately African-American club — approached police and installed surveillance cameras to cut back on crime in and around the bar.
“The bottom line is, there's no other place in town that is like this,” Mandarino said of the S&H. “It's not a racial thing, it's not a black-white thing. My job is to protect the residents of this city. If this was happening at the fireman's club and there were fights and shootings in the parking lot, we'd be doing our best to shut that place down.”
Laundry list
Monessen police have noted what Mandarino called “a laundry list” of incidents dating back to the S&H opening.
On the first day of operation — Feb. 4, 2012 — police arrested a Donora man for allegedly punching Tansmore in the mouth and striking several other patrons. Charges were later dismissed.
The most serious offenses since then include:
• June 3, 2013: Police arrested a Monessen man after he allegedly stabbed another patron while he was sitting in the bar.
• June 29, 2014: Liquor Control Enforcement officers confiscated a video poker machine during an early Saturday raid. Mandarino said officers found several stamp bags of suspected heroin floating in a men's room toilet. Police said they returned soon afterward because of loud music.
• Sept. 1, 2014: A male patron walked out of the bar and fired at least one shot at a passing vehicle. The man fled before police arrived and police said other patrons refused to confirm the shooting, which was caught on surveillance video.
• Nov. 20, 2014: A bouncer was breaking up a fight outside the bar between two women when he was shot in the foot around 2 a.m. The incident is captured on video, but police were unable to verify a suspect because no witnesses would confirm the shooting.
Mozer said operators of the Okay Lodge cooperated with law enforcement, resulting in the arrest and incarceration of Anthony “Jinx” Law and Algin Youngblood, who are accused of exchanging gunfire outside the club around 2 a.m. Oct. 6.
“There seems to be a major difference here. The fact is the Okay Lodge provided a video to police that was used to go to the judge and they were working toward a solution,” Mozer said.
“On the other hand, this bar over here, a shooting happens and they say, ‘What are you talking about? There was no shooting. You must've heard a tire backfiring.'”
Next steps
Bonadio urged residents to attend Friday's meeting and voice their concerns to Peck and other officials.
“The most powerful tool we have is people who live in the vicinity,” Bonadio said. “The people have to step up and allow us to document how this bar is affecting their business and their quality of life. If people wish to shut this place down, we need to document everything now.”
However, some of the residents will have to echo those concerns at an upcoming nonrenewal hearing before an administrative judge in Green Tree.
No date has been set for the hearing, but Bonadio said it should occur sometime after Jan. 1.
If the judge rules against the bar, Holmes would not be granted a new liquor license and would therefore be unable to sell it to Tansmore, he said.
Should the license renewal and sell take place, the next step would be presenting evidence to Peck to seek a nuisance bar action against the S&H Lounge. A judge would have to approve or deny the designation.
Bonadio said he has often received countless complaints about other bars, but when it comes time to prosecute, people do not want to go on the record — sometimes from fear of reprisal.
However, Mandarino noted a number of Knox Avenue residents played a key role in shuttering the former Billy T's bar by appearing before Ackerman.
Mozer noted the importance of community input to his mission — and hopes Friday's meeting serves as a springboard.
“The public is essential to this,” he said. “If it's just me and a business owner or two show up, it's worth about two cents. If the public shows up en masse, it's invaluable.”
Rick Bruni Jr. is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at rbruni@tribweb.com or 724-684-2635.
