State and Plymouth police and Luzerne County detectives showed up to the Olde Tymers Pub in Plymouth just before noon Friday armed with drills and locks. They closed the bar on Main Street by court order.
"We feel that it's a nuisance bar based on the fact that there has been a lot of trouble her ein the last few years, so it's been a long time coming," said District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll.
The pub used to be called the Bull Run Tavern. In 2008, there was a shooting death inside the bar. According to the district attorney, the place has been the site of a slew of other crimes over the years.
"We've had rapes, we've had robberies, we've also had people urinating outside, sex acts outside and we also have an elderly high rise across the street and those people and the people in the community, they have had enough," said Carroll.
Neil McMahon, who operates the bar, said the closure is nonsense. He plans to fight the court order and sue. "I am the only bar in Plymouth that serves colored people so this is racially motivated. If I didn't serve black people you all wouldn't be here. Police haven't been here in a year," said McMahon.
The district attorney said that claim is ridiculous.
Most people who were asked were happy about the shuttered bar.
"It seemed like 2 a.m., 3 a.m. you got something happening here, a shooting, or everything else. Would you be disgusted living across from something like that?" asked Bernard Proud of Plymouth.
Other people said it is not fair.
"I feel it's wrong, he is a good man. He would do anything for anybody and I don't feel that it's right he's supposed to pick and choose who comes into his bar?" asked one Plymouth woman.
A hearing on the closure has been scheduled for Tuesday in Luzerne County court. A judge will decide then if there is enough evidence for Olde Tymers Pub to remain closed.
"We feel that it's a nuisance bar based on the fact that there has been a lot of trouble her ein the last few years, so it's been a long time coming," said District Attorney Jackie Musto Carroll.
The pub used to be called the Bull Run Tavern. In 2008, there was a shooting death inside the bar. According to the district attorney, the place has been the site of a slew of other crimes over the years.
"We've had rapes, we've had robberies, we've also had people urinating outside, sex acts outside and we also have an elderly high rise across the street and those people and the people in the community, they have had enough," said Carroll.
Neil McMahon, who operates the bar, said the closure is nonsense. He plans to fight the court order and sue. "I am the only bar in Plymouth that serves colored people so this is racially motivated. If I didn't serve black people you all wouldn't be here. Police haven't been here in a year," said McMahon.
The district attorney said that claim is ridiculous.
Most people who were asked were happy about the shuttered bar.
"It seemed like 2 a.m., 3 a.m. you got something happening here, a shooting, or everything else. Would you be disgusted living across from something like that?" asked Bernard Proud of Plymouth.
Other people said it is not fair.
"I feel it's wrong, he is a good man. He would do anything for anybody and I don't feel that it's right he's supposed to pick and choose who comes into his bar?" asked one Plymouth woman.
A hearing on the closure has been scheduled for Tuesday in Luzerne County court. A judge will decide then if there is enough evidence for Olde Tymers Pub to remain closed.
