After local officials were unable to serve the owners of the Mississippi Arts and Entertainment of Hattiesburg facility with process in time for a scheduled November 27 court date, another – likely final – hearing date has been scheduled for the matter of “permanently abat(ing) the public nuisance at the club on Timothy Lane.
Randy Pope, who serves as attorney for the City of Hattiesburg, said the new date has been set for January 16 at Forrest County Chancery Court. Before that date, city officials will publish the aforementioned process in The Pine Belt News to make it legal.
A previous hearing had been set for November 13, but the owners of the club – formerly known as Club Empire – did not show up, necessitating the push for the November 27 date.
“We’ll have a hearing one way or another (on January 16), whether they’re there or not,” Pope said. “But at that point, we’ll have process on them, so we can go forward (with the matter).”
After the owners failed to show up for the November 13 hearing date, chancellor Rhea Sheldon signed an order that prohibited them operating any kind of business at the Timothy Lane location for the next 14 days. Pope then attempted to serve the owners with process but was unable to complete that step.
The first step taken against the Arts and Entertainment club was on October 17 – following almost too many criminal incidents to count at the club – Hattiesburg City Council members voted 5-0 to “permanently abate the public nuisance” at the club, via Resolution #2023-161. That measure came after several calls during which officers from the Hattiesburg Police Department responded to fights, assaults, disorderly conduct, shootings, possession of drugs and weapons, burglaries and violations of city ordinances.
“We’ve been to court with them … this (is) the third time, so it’s not unlike some of these other clubs that we’ve had to deal with, with shootings and fights and all kinds of misbehavior,” Pope said in an earlier story. “Our police are having to spend an inordinate amount of time, especially on the weekends, dealing with this.”
Shortly after the council’s decision, the club’s owners surrendered their privilege tax license and advised city officials the club would be going out of business.
“But there’s no guarantee they’re not going to change their minds,” Pope said. “So we’re going to go ahead with (this next hearing), although as far as I know the business hasn’t been open since about the 18th of October.”
The most recent incident at the club occurred on the night of October 7, when a woman was shot in the leg in front of the facility. That incident comes after eight similar or lesser occurrences at that site since early 2019.
“The city council of the City of Hattiesburg has determined that the continued and repeated obnoxious and illegal activities occurring in and near the Arts & Entertainment Club constitutes a public nuisance,” Resolution #2023-161 states. “Officers of the Hattiesburg Police Department have been repeatedly called to deal with said fights, assaults, disorderly conduct, shootings, possession of drugs and weapons, and burglaries to vehicles in the Arts & Entertainment Club parking lot, including (the recent shooting incident).
“The city council of the City of Hattiesburg has determined that the continued and repeated obnoxious and illegal activities occurring in and near the Arts & Entertainment Club constitutes a public nuisance.”
The occurrences stretch back to January 2019, when two people were shot following an altercation at Club Empire. The next month, officials from the Alcoholic Beverage Control Enforcement, along with assistance from other law enforcement agencies, executed six search warrants at the property because of reports of illegal gambling, illegal sales of alcohol and sightings of drugs and weapons.
That same month, a judge ordered the temporary closure of the club pending a hearing; in May of that year, a man was shot in the leg at the club. In late August 2021, another man was shot, and a bullet grazed a woman during a shooting at the site.
In September 2021, council members passed a resolution ordering temporary closures at the club, along with similar measures at Roper’s Rockin’ Country on U.S. 49.
During an executive session on September 21, 2021, council members – after hearing from members of the Hattiesburg Police Department – declared Club Empire a nuisance, at which point Pope was approved to file and seek an injunction against the club.
In October 2021, Stacey Daniels, the owner of Club Empire, agreed to permanently close that facility after Hattiesburg officials declared it a nuisance because of the aforementioned incidents. Daniels met with Chancellor Rhea Sheldon shortly after that, and the judged mandated that Daniels and his business partners and associates – some of whom are also defendants in the matter – would not be allowed to open another nightclub within the city limits of Hattiesburg.
Daniels then sold the establishment to its current owners. However, Pope said that city officials have video evidence that Daniels is still involved with the club, against judge’s orders.
“It’s clearly a club, but before this, they rented out parties and events and so forth, but it’s still a club, and he’s still involved, so we’re going to have to deal with it,” Pope said. “I don’t think they can control the crowds that come, and we’ve done this before.
“So this is just another one that we’re having to deal with, and I think it was significant that the (council’s) vote was 5-0 – it was a unanimous vote. That, to me, is the council and the administration being together on this, so that’s good as far as I’m concerned.”
