Jimmagan’s owner: Won’t close without a fight

The owner of Jimmagan’s Pub said his business has become one of the latest targets in a war on nightclubs and bars in Myrtle Beach, but he refuses to go down without a fight.

The pub at 6003 N. Kings Highway, which has been in business for 20 years, received notice that it would have to shut down Friday, owner Steve Sheedy said. The bar was still operating Monday.

The notice came less than three months after the police were called to the pub in response to a shootout between two men.

On Oct. 9, police were called out again in response to an incomplete 911 call. Officers say they found a man who said he was playing pool at the pub when a scuffle broke out. “He was accidentally bumped into the suspect who in turn pulled out a black handgun and pointed it at the victim’s chest,” according to the report. No shots were fired and the suspect fled the scene.

Myrtle Beach compiled a list of the police calls to Jimmagan’s and sent it to Jimmy Richardson, solicitor for the 15th Judicial District, who opened a public nuisance investigation of the bar, Richardson said.

Richardson said his office had not filed any complaint with the court to officially start the legal process of closing the club as of Monday. He said that a letter was sent to the property owner, however, asking them to abate the nuisances that would be outlined in a legal complaint if they weren’t taken care of in 10 days.

“Most of the time when you make everybody aware that this is going on … the landlord is generally the first one up saying, ‘yes sir, close it please,’” Richardson said.

Properties declared public nuisances must remain closed for a year unless it is released in an order before then, under state law.

Left with property taxes, but the threat of no tenants for a year inspires a lot of landlords to evict a tenant before the issue ever goes before a judge, according to Richardson.

“I was supposed to be closed Friday. I went to my lawyer and my lawyer bought me two more days,” Sheedy said on Sunday.

Taps still poured from the pub on Monday.

“I can’t let them close my business down. I’m not some thug. I’m not a gangster. This is my business,” Sheedy said.

Myrtle Beach City Manager John Pedersen told the city council last week that the city continues to have issues with certain bars that blemish “our family-friendly reputation.”

The city turned to public nuisance investigations to shut down certain clubs and halted business licenses for new bars in parts of the city while they looked at zoning amendments to address some of the issues.

City spokesman Mark Kruea estimated about six establishments had been shuttered through nuisance abatement in the city over the past decade.

The list of darkened clubs includes Levelz, a bar on Ninth Avenue North that was shuttered after a fatal shooting in February.

Richardson estimated a dozen establishments – not just bars – have been closed in Horry County through nuisance abatement or the threat of it in the past few years. The solicitor’s office deputized the Battle Law Firm in Conway to help his office with the civil cases.

The road to closure through public nuisance starts with a plea of help.

“The way these cases come to us is either the chief of police or some representative of the jurisdiction ... will call and say, ‘we have had a time with this club or that club, can you help us under the nuisance statute?’” Richardson said.

Officers compile a report about calls for service and send it to the solicitor’s office. If further investigation reveals a public nuisance claim, the Battle Law Firm sends a letter.

“First thing we do is we send them a letter saying that basically your name has come up being a public nuisance please abate or stop doing what it is that has gotten you to this point,” Richardson said.

If it’s not abated within 10 days, they move to step 2.

“We file a summons and complaint against them” in court, he said, and the legal process begins. Both parties will argue the case in front of a judge, who will ultimately decide the issue.

Richardson said that they “have made contact with the city of Myrtle Beach” regarding the North Kings Highway Jimmagan’s Pub and are “working toward seeing if we can abate the nuisance.”

Sheedy owns three bars in Horry County: Jimmagan’s Pub at 6003 N. Kings Highway, Jimmagan’s Pub at 641 Robert M. Grissom Parkway and Jimmigan’s Endzone on U.S. Highway 17 near the stateline in Little River.

A man was allegedly beaten and urinated on in the parking lot of Jimmigan’s on Robert M. Grissom Parkway in June. Sheedy says he received a warning to make his bar safer or face legal action, but he said he never received a warning for his bar on North Kings Highway.

“Nobody wants people coming in a bar and shooting,” Sheedy said. “It’s not me saying come in and shoot… This is the life we live in now.”

He said the violence is happening everywhere and he would be more than happy to work with police to make his pub draw less of their attention, but he feels singled out.

“I’m being threatened. I don’t like being threatened,” he said. They want to “close me down, put me on the streets, I don’t think so… I’m not going down without a fight.”

Reach Weaver: 843-444-1722, @TSNEmily

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 7:18 PM with the headline "Jimmagan’s owner: Won’t close without a fight."