Hamilton objects to bar’s liquor permit renewal

Hamilton City Council objected this week to renewal of liquor licenses for Hard Times Bar, the site of a 2016 homicide and drug activity, according to police.

The bar, at 25 S. 7th St., is where Robert Goens, 23, of Hudson Avenue, was shot in the chest Jan. 15, 2016, dying from his injuries hours later in the hospital. A second man was injured in the shooting.

The bar’s D1, D2, D3, D3A and D6 liquor permits are to be renewed by June 1. But city administrators, based on feedback from the fire and police departments, recommended council object and request that state liquor officials conduct a hearing in Hamilton on the matter.

Hamilton police found that in the past 15 months, “there has been a homicide in the bar’s parking lot; drug trafficking in, and originating from, the bar by a member of its staff; felonious assaults resulting in gunshot wounds; and multiple instances where officers perceived the smell of burnt marijuana in the bar and observed alcohol being served after permit hours,” according to a report from city Law Director Heather Sanderson Lewis.

Lewis’ report also said that firefighters have “indicated that this establishment does not possess a certificate of occupancy which states the occupancy load of the establishment.”

Bar owners were unavailable to comment.

Charles Deonte McDonald, 25, of East Avenue, pleaded guilty to the fatal 2016 shooting at the bar.

McDonald, a Hamilton man who had only been out of prison three months before he shot and killed Goens, has been sentenced to 32 years to life in prison.

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