Artie60438
Posts : 9728
| Subject: Former East Hammond liquor store demolished 6/10/2011, 11:40 pm | |
| Former East Hammond liquor store demolished - Quote :
- HAMMOND | A notorious former East Hammond liquor store was torn down on Friday after some tense moments between the building's owner and the demolition crew.
R & L Sears Cut-Rate Liquors at 5707 Columbia Ave., better known locally by signage advertising A-1 Liquors and 3 A.M. Liquors, was condemned by the Board of Public Works & Safety in January.
Owner Lawrence Sears, of Walkerton, confronted employees of Hammond-based JM Wrecking shortly before 10 a.m. Friday as they began work at the site, witnesses said, threatening them with bodily harm.
Police said Sears quickly calmed down with the arrival of officers called to the scene and was not arrested, though workers did file a complaint against him claiming intimidation.
Building inspectors last year cited numerous safety code violations at the 134-year-old structure along Summer Street, including electrical problems and an eastern wall constructed solely of plywood.
The Lake County Alcoholic Beverage Board had recommended that the store's liquor license be terminated due to its history of underage sales and allowing minors to loiter both inside and outside the business.
Police logged several late-night calls per week to the intersection prior to the store's closing in February for gang and drug activity, armed robberies and other reported violence.
The corner also had been the site of numerous homicides over the past decade, most recently a 22-year-old man gunned down in the store's parking lot in 2006, and a 14-year-old girl shot to death across the street in 2009.
"We gave the owner every opportunity to fix up the property," said James Callahan, the city's chief of inspections. "This probably should have been done years ago."
Hammond Police Chief Brian Miller said that his office had already received several calls Friday afternoon from residents thanking police for their efforts to control criminal activities around the business.
The building was one of 25 unsafe structures in the city slated for demolition this spring. I wonder if this guy Walkerton owns any other eyesores in Hammond? | |
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sparks
Posts : 2214
| Subject: Re: Former East Hammond liquor store demolished 6/11/2011, 7:48 am | |
| One more reason why McDermott is a very good Mayor. I hope to see Kenny Mays close next. It is a deterrent to investment on Calumet ave and has been troublesome to it's neighbors for many years. | |
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BigWhiteGuy
Posts : 689
| Subject: Re: Former East Hammond liquor store demolished 6/11/2011, 9:49 am | |
| - sparks wrote:
- One more reason why McDermott is a very good Mayor. I hope to see Kenny Mays close next. It is a deterrent to investment on Calumet ave and has been troublesome to it's neighbors for many years.
So, if McDermott is a very good Mayor, wouldn't Kenny May's have been closed "many years" ago? | |
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happy jack
Posts : 6988
| Subject: Re: Former East Hammond liquor store demolished 6/11/2011, 11:51 am | |
| - BigWhiteGuy wrote:
- sparks wrote:
- One more reason why McDermott is a very good Mayor. I hope to see Kenny Mays close next. It is a deterrent to investment on Calumet ave and has been troublesome to it's neighbors for many years.
So, if McDermott is a very good Mayor, wouldn't Kenny May's have been closed "many years" ago? Is it possible that the owner of Kenny May's has been tucking dollar bills into the mayor's G-string? | |
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Artie60438
Posts : 9728
| Subject: Re: Former East Hammond liquor store demolished 6/11/2011, 12:41 pm | |
| - BigWhiteGuy wrote:
- sparks wrote:
- One more reason why McDermott is a very good Mayor. I hope to see Kenny Mays close next. It is a deterrent to investment on Calumet ave and has been troublesome to it's neighbors for many years.
So, if McDermott is a very good Mayor, wouldn't Kenny May's have been closed "many years" ago? I'm not trying to defend Kenny May's,but it doesn't cause anywhere near the kinds of problems that liquor store did. Sooner or later they'll be going bye bye too. | |
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