Accusations Fly at Hailee's Hearing

Strong accusations were leveled by both sides during the course of the nearly seven-hour hearing Tuesday night at Mauldin City Hall over the city’s decision to revoke the business license of Hailee’s Sports Bar and Grill.

Mauldin’s City Attorney John Duggan called numerous witnesses to make the case that the repeated calls to Hailee’s were impacting the city’s resources.

Among those testifying on behalf of the city were former employees of Hailee’s, citizens who worked on underage alcohol compliance efforts, several Mauldin police officers — including Chief Bryan Turner — and city Planning and Zoning Director Peter Nomikos.

The picture that was presented to council member Bob Cook, who presided over the hearing, and the rest of the city council was not flattering to Hailee’s or its owner, Sonny Ninan.

Ninan’s attorney, Robert Childs, moved to have the hearing delayed or dismissed but those requests were denied.

The grounds on which the city sought to revoke the license was that Hailee’s has become a “repeated and ongoing problem,” according to Duggan, the sheer volume of which he attempted to bring out in testimony.

His lead witness was Turner, who testified for nearly two hours. Turner said that since June 25, 2010, through last week, there had been 93 incident reports related to Hailee’s that included 118 offenses. He also added that 61 citations were issued and 52 arrests were made, eight of which were of employees of Hailee’s.

Turner noted that there are other establishments similar to Hailee’s in the Mauldin service area, albeit not quite as large. Nevertheless, he said, “they all pale in comparison to the resources devoted to Hailee’s.”

Much of the testimony initiated by Duggan focused on allegations that Hailee’s routinely served alcohol to minors, violated alcohol ordinances prohibiting the sale of certain beverages after 2 a.m., condoned drug use and did not pay payroll taxes. Several of the policemen who testified recounted episodes where they had to deal with violent crimes that took place at or near Hailee’s.

Witnesses said such an atmosphere was fostered by Ninan and his son Shane, who oversees day-to-day operations, a charge that both men refuted vehemently when it was their turn to testify.

One witness claimed that the elder Ninan maintained sexual relationships with several of the wait staff as a matter of course. The witness said, when he tried to break up one particular liaison, Ninan fired him.

Childs attempted to establish in cross-examination that many of the events described in incident reports were out of Hailee’s control or had minimal relationship to it.

The property on which Hailee’s is located was annexed by the city of Mauldin in 2010 at the request of the property owner. There was time period that off-duty Mauldin police officers provided security services to Hailee’s, but that practice was stopped earlier this year at Turner’s request.

It was around that time that Ninan said the relationship between Mauldin police and Hailee’s began to sour. Ninan, who served on the Mauldin police force at one time, believes that he is being singled out.

Ninan also emphasized his clean business record along with the fact that no other agency has ever had an issue with his operations.

During his testimony, Ninan criticized Turner for never meeting with him and for his lack of leadership in attempting to resolve the problem. He also accused the police force of corruption.

“They want to get paid under the table for providing security,” Ninan said. “They are no different than the New Orleans police.

When asked about the corruption charges levied against him Turner said, “That may have taken place when (Ninan) was on the police force, but it doesn’t now. I’ve been here for five years and there are lot of police officers here now who weren’t here five years ago.”

During his closing remarks, attorney Childs said that revoking the business license was the equivalent of the death penalty and it would cost nearly thirty people their jobs at Hailee's. He also said that Ninan was willing to work with city to improve the safety environment at the establishment.

It is expected to be about a week before the city council reaches a decision. Regardless of the verdict, an appeal expected to be filed.