News Summary

MIDDLETOWN — It could take considerable time and energy for Middletown City Council to close several local bars that have had ongoing problems with violence, a councilman said Monday, July 14.

Councilman Tony Marconi plans to introduce the topic of public nuisances at tonight's council meeting because of the increased number of police calls at some local bars. Marconi said these disturbances divert police from patrolling neighborhood streets.

Ozzy's, a bar on Grand Avenue, has become the poster child for public nuisances after a shooting there a week ago left 26-year-old Spencer Davis dead and a woman shot in the arm. It was the most recent of several disturbances at the establishment during the past 18 months — including an argument in September that escalated into a shooting at an apartment complex in according to police records. Reflections bar on Elliott Drive and the Ramada Inn on Ohio 123 generated more police calls, but neither establishment has seen incidents of extreme violence such as the two shootings linked to the Grand Avenue bar.

Councilman Bill Becker, a former police chief in Middletown, said he knows from experience what it takes to close down bars with violent histories. He said it takes about a year using public nuisance laws to shut a place down and it takes a lot of energy to pursue that course of action.

"Right or wrong, you're going to deny the use of someone's property," Becker said.

Arlen Campbell, who owns the bar with his wife, Sharon, said they won't be at today's council meeting.

Campbell said the bar has been for sale for about a year and a half, and that everything they have tried to do at the bar to improve businesses hasn't worked. He said he has talked with a council member on the issue, but declined to comment on that conversation.

Vice Mayor Jim Armbruster said Monday the property is "run down" which he believes sets the tone for the clientele that comes to the bar near a 24-hour pharmacy and residential area; and that "no one needs to put up with that kind of activity."

"I think it needs to be shut down," he said.

Middletown City Council will meet today at 5:30 p.m. for its work session in the Fourth Floor Conference Room of the Middletown City Building, One Donham Plaza. Council's regular business meeting will begin at 6:30 p.m. today.