‘Last recourse’: City of Myrtle Beach’s decision to shut down Donny’s bar a rare move
A deadly shooting and its alleged cover-up were the nail in the coffin that caused a Myrtle Beach bar with a history of issues to lose its business license.
Myrtle Beach City Council voted unanimously to deny Donny’s Saloon’s appeal to keep their business license, permanently shuttering the bar that was located at 1213 3rd Ave S. in such a move the city calls a “last recourse.”
Jas’sier Wilson, of Surfside Beach, was fatally shot on March 25 at Donny’s, police said. He died in the hospital on April 2. Wilson was 26.
Hubert Durant, 41, and Jermaine Gattison, 36, are charged with murder in the shooting that fatally injured Wilson. Durant and Gattison are being held at J. Reuben Long Detention Center.
Police accused staff at Donny’s Saloon of failing to seek treatment for Wilson and attempting to clean up the crime scene.
Brian Rommel Foushee, 36, of Atlantic Beach; Isabella Rena Gaghum, 24, of Myrtle Beach; Danny Kevin Gunter, 37, of Myrtle Beach; and Dominique Nichole Nance, 24, of Myrtle Beach, are charged with obstruction of justice. Police say the staff members mopped up the floor and removed shell casings from the crime scene in an attempt to impede the police investigation followed the March 25 shooting.
‘A nuisance to the city’
Councilman Gregg Smith said at a council meeting Tuesday that Myrtle Beach would be better off without Donny’s.
“I believe this has been a nuisance to the city, to the neighbors and to the general public,” Smith said during the council meeting.
While the recent deadly shooting was the most serious crime to take place at Donny’s, the bar had a problem with violence for years.
About six months prior to the fatal shooting, another shooting at Donny’s led to an attempted murder charge for Elijah Edward Marcus, 40. Marcus was arrested Sept. 7.
Other incidents reported at Donny’s Saloon this year included an assault that was reportedly filmed on Facebook Live. Police say that on Jan. 25, Basheba James Worrell approached a woman at Donny’s and punched her in the back of the head, knocking her off a bar stool and causing her to lose a fingernail, according to an incident report from the Myrtle Beach Police Department.
The woman showed a Myrtle Beach police officer the Facebook video of her assault, according to the incident report. Worrell was taken to Myrtle Beach jail and charged with assault and battery, according to police.
In March, a woman filed a police report stating that her cell phone had been stolen at Donny’s. She contacted police on March 12, saying that she left her cell phone in the bathroom at the bar. When she returned moments later, her phone was gone, according to a Myrtle Beach police incident report.
In August 2019, a fight involving more than 40 people broke out at Donny’s, police said.
In March 2019, one person was shot and injured at the bar.
In May 2018, a brawl inside the bar spilled outside where several shots were fired, according to police. No one was hurt.
Can crime be regulated?
Mark Kruea, spokesperson for the city of Myrtle Beach, said revoking a business license is a last resort for the city in dealing with problematic businesses.
“This revocation of a business license is used very infrequently, I think maybe 10 times in the last five years,” Kruea said during a phone call Wednesday.
“We certainly prefer to be able to work with the businesses to address the problems that may arise,” he said.
“If illegal activity occurs repeatedly or nuisances are allowed to persist without remedy, that evidence and information is presented to the business license official, who reviews it and makes a determination,” Kruea wrote in an email.
“Council is reluctant to revoke a business license. It’s the last recourse,” Kruea said.
Myrtle Beach city law states that a business license may be suspended or revoked if a “licensee has been convicted of an offense under a law or ordinance regulating business, a crime involving dishonest conduct or moral turpitude” or if a “licensee has engaged in an unlawful activity or nuisance related to the business.”
Other notable Myrtle Beach-area bars and clubs have dealt with nightlife crime in a variety of ways — some establishments took action on their own and others had their hands forced by authorities.
Last year, Atlantic Beach passed a city ordinance regulating nightclubs in an effort to curb criminal activity. The 14 pages of new rules, which were approved in November, call for clubs to keep security staff and install surveillance systems.
In 2018, the owner of two Myrtle Beach-area bars made changes to his businesses after the Horry County Solicitor began investigating the bars, seeking to have them shut down.
15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson filed a complaint that could have closed down Klocker’s Tavern and Remedies Bar and Grill, citing frequent police calls and criminal activity in the two bars’ shared parking lot.
The solicitor’s office reached a two-year agreement with Jason Klocker — who owns Klocker’s and Remedies — to take preventative measures to clean up the businesses and curb trouble at the two bars, which are located on U.S. 17 Bypass just south of the S.C. 707 overpass.
For two years, the bars were to close at 1 a.m. instead of 2 a.m. Klocker had additional lighting and a security system installed at the two bars.
This story was originally published June 24, 2021 at 11:00 AM.
