Violent crime has been under a microscope in Columbus since a pair of murders in April and May shook the community. City officials hope to crack down on violence in all forms, but the type of business where one of those murders and several recent violent encounters occurred is of particular concern.
The April 20 shooting death of Quentin Spencer, 20, at the Everyday Club and Lounge on Seventh Avenue North was the third of Columbus” last six homicides to occur at a bar. In September 2007 Cyntana Murray, then 19, was killed at the former Club Hypnotica on Wilkins Wise Road. Veneto Dewayne Smith, then 30, was killed at the same location, then called Club Cheetah, on June 18, 2006.
In addition to the immediate loss of three lives, three more individuals were removed from society due to the killings. Latoyia Hill, 25, of Columbus, received 15 years in prison for cutting Murray”s throat and William L. Brown, 29, of Artesia, received 15 years for fatally kicking Smith in the head after stabbing him in the neck. Hill and Brown were both convicted of manslaughter. Marshall Ray Burgin, 25, of Columbus, is incarcerated at the Lowndes County Adult Detention Center awaiting trial on murder charges for Spencer”s shooting death.
Violence at bars is nothing new and isn”t indigenous to Columbus, but local officials are no longer tolerating the violence as an inevitable byproduct of the sale and consumption of alcohol. A committee including Mayor Robert Smith, several city councilmen, Police Chief Joseph St. John and several local bar owners, was formed several months ago to address violence at bars.
“We”ve met on three occasions and listened to suggestions and ideas on what we can do to cut down on violence at clubs,” said Smith.
Suggestions included employing security guards and routing traffic one way near certain bars during peak hours, but St. John says the greatest success has come through bars dispersing loiterers on their premises.
“Things have slowed down tremendously,” he said of problems at Columbus clubs. “Some bars are almost closed now. They”re not getting much business in the last month or so.
“Bar owners are taking things very serious. They”re keeping good control to keep people from the outside of the bars. Now we”re dealing with actual patrons and not just people who sit outside.”
Maintaining pressure
Cooperation from bar owners has played a major role in reducing incidents, but Columbus police aren”t placing all the responsibility in the owners” hands. St. John said the department will be at full capacity when several officers finish their training at the Mississippi Police Academy, and he plans to maintain pressure on high-incident “hot spots” with the CPD”s Vice Patrol unit.
Increased patrols may reduce chances of incidences occurring outside of bars, but probably wouldn”t have saved Quentin Spencer or Veneto Smith.
“I don”t care where you go. You”re going to have bar fights and stuff like that,” said one man who lives in the neighborhood near the Everyday Lounge but declined to give his name. “The police here or in New York City, they”re not going to curb no violence. I don”t care where you”re at.”
Anthony Williams, 47, another neighborhood resident and associate of the anonymous witness went a step further, saying the atmosphere inside the Everyday Lounge was generally relaxed.
“You could go, chill and watch sports, shoot pool and just have a good time,” said Williams.
Outside the bar was apparently another story.
Dennis Long, who owns an apartment complex across from the Everyday Lounge on 16th Street, spent thousands of dollars installing a fence and gate around his property to keep the crowd outside the bar from spilling into his parking lot. He says residents routinely complained of people selling drugs in front of the apartments, talking and cursing loudly, drinking, leaving broken beer bottles and other litter in the parking lot and occasionally fighting. Long says he witnessed people having sex behind the complex.
“I had gone before the (Columbus City) Council even before the shooting and asked them to do something about it. I went to the police, too. They put up roadblocks once,” said Long. “I”ve got good tenants leaving. One lady who had been living there 20-something years said if she could afford it she would get out of there. She barred her door at night.”
Ryan Bogan, 18, who sometimes stays with his grandmother on 16th Street across from the Everyday Lounge, said the road was routinely lined on both sides with parked cars, some playing loud music. He also said police rarely stopped at the club.
“You would see them coast up and down (Seventh Avenue) but never to the point where they”d turn the lights on,” he said.
Long was threatened several times while running loiterers off his property and began carrying a pistol any time he visited the apartments when the club was in business. Since the club has closed, he says the problems have disappeared but the area still has a bad reputation.
”You could trace the blood”
Loitering bar patrons were problems at other night spots as well. Cyntana Murray was outside Club Hypnotica on Wilkins Wise Road when she was stabbed in the throat by Hill, with whom she had a previous altercation. Employees at Stribling Equipment, located across the street from the former Hypnotica and former Club Cheetah, reported their parking lot was routinely littered with beer bottles, many of which were thrown at heavy equipment showcased in front of the business. On one occasion, the front windows were smashed.
In addition to broken glass and used condoms, lighters were a commonly discarded item.
“When you pick up disposable butane lighters by the handful. … You know you don”t use that many lighters in a weekend,” said one Stribling Equipment employee who asked to remain anonymous.
She also recalled the morning after Murray”s murder.
“You could trace the blood where she ran down the street and back up. You could see the imprint of her bloody body (in the ditch). The beads from her necklace were by the steps (of the bar),” she said.
The building which formerly housed Club Hypnotica and Club Cheetah is now labeled as the Back Stage Hang Out. A sign outside the building lists the rules: No one over 18 years of age. No smoking. No drinking. No lewd dancing. No revealing clothes. No offensive language.
It is unclear if the Back Stage Hang Out is open for business.
Gary Moore, former Criminal Investigations Division commander with the CPD and a 33-year law enforcement veteran in the Golden Triangle, says trends in incidences at bars and murders in general are difficult to attribute.
“I think it”s been happening for years. Alcohol plays a big part in it,” he said. “It comes and it goes. Columbus over the years would go a year without a murder then have two or three in one year. It”s hard to predict or say what causes it all.
“I can say I have seen a trend where a lot of younger people don”t have respect or compassion that used to go around. They”ll hit somebody with no forethought. Kids today just don”t seem to have the same courtesy or manners that kids did years ago.”
Several community summits addressing crime prevention have been held in the wake of Spencer”s killing, which was followed by the shooting death of Justin Murray, 21, in May. The beating death of Linda Snell, 38, in her South Lehmberg Road home in August, was Columbus” third murder in 2010.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.