This story was the talker in Springfield in mid-February. I pieced it together mostly using public documents, including police reports and court filings.
Bar wars? Police investigate incidents at two downtown taverns
Feb. 17, 2010
The owner of a closed downtown sports bar was questioned over the weekend about the destruction of 10 windows at a tavern across the street that is owned by his landlord, with whom he has been at odds, according to police reports.
Tom Kelty, 39, who owns Sammy’s Sports Bar at 217 S. Fifth St., denied any role in the vandalism, which caused $6,000 damage to the front windows at Floyd’s Thirst Parlor across the street at 210 S. Fifth St. Floyd’s is owned by Dennis Polk, who also owns the building that housed Sammy’s Sports Bar.
Court records show that Kelty and Polk have been embroiled in a lease dispute over the Sammy’s building since December 2004. A judge overseeing the case last week ordered Kelty to vacate the building by noon this Friday.
About noon Tuesday, police were sent to 217 S. Fifth St. after Kelty climbed a ladder and took a knife to the property’s blue awning and cut out all of the Sammy’s Sports Bar logos.
“I did climb up out front and I cut our logo and our name off the canopy out front,” Kelty said. “Our name is registered with the state. It’s trademarked. We own it; we bought it; we paid for it.”
Sangamon County sheriff’s deputies are stationed outside the former Sammy’s building this morning to head off any problems or answer any questions that might crop up, according to chief deputy Jack Campbell.
Deputies stood by outside Sammy’s Tuesday evening while a locksmith changed the locks with a judge’s permission. Newspapers were taped over the windows and front entrance to the bar, which closed for good Saturday after a lengthy dispute with the Illinois Department of Revenue over unpaid state sales and withholding taxes. Because of the tax problems, the state did not renew Sammy’s liquor license, which expired Jan. 31.
The newspapers were removed from the Sammy’s windows by Tuesday night. All the televisions, sports memorabilia and beer signs that adorned the walls were gone.
Sammy’s party Saturday
Kelty allegedly served alcohol at a private party Saturday night, according to police.
Officers were sent to the bar at 9:39 p.m. after receiving a tip that alcohol was being served there with no permit. Police arrived to find seven signs posted on the windows indicating the business was closed for a private party. The front door was open, and the officers walked in to find about 40 people inside eating and drinking.
“Some had bottles of beer, and others had what appeared to be mixed drinks. There was a bartender serving the drinks,” police said in a report.
Kelty told officers he was closing the restaurant after losing his liquor license and had invited about 200 people to come in between 7 a.m. Saturday and 1 a.m. Sunday. He said he provided them with liquor, beer and food at no cost, according to the report.
“He said that he was simply getting rid of liquor and beer that he could not return,” the report states. “He also added that he had been turning away people all day who had not been invited.”
The officers talked to four people who were drinking at the bar or tables, and they all said they were invited and had not paid anything for the food or drinks.
A police sergeant sent officers back to check on the bar about 1:30 a.m. Sunday. They arrived to find about 30 people still inside and a bartender still serving drinks. An officer told the bartender to stop serving alcohol and to clear all the alcohol off the tables. The bartender decided to have everyone leave and asked police to stay until the bar cleared out.
Kelty had left a short time before to go to another bar, the bartender told police. Officers left just before 2 a.m.
Police documented the two visits in reports, which were forwarded to the city liquor inspector.
Windows broken at Floyd’s
About 5:20 a.m., a bicyclist on Fifth Street flagged down a city police sergeant on patrol and said he heard a banging noise at Floyd’s Thirst Parlor. The bicyclist said he had seen a white man about 5 feet, 10 inches tall, wearing a brown coat, blue jeans and a white hat, breaking a window on the bar. The man then walked south on Fifth Street and west on Monroe Street before the bicyclist lost sight of him.
The sergeant began looking for the man and saw a person in the alley directly north of Sammy’s Sports Bar. As the sergeant tried to stop and drive into the alley, the person disappeared. The sergeant found a door in the alley on the north side of Sammy’s, which was near where he’d last seen the man.
Polk told police he had been having problems with Kelty. Polk told the officer Kelty called him at 10:22 p.m. Saturday and accused Polk of telling police about the private party at Sammy’s.
Polk said he did not call the police on Kelty and said he was at home when Kelty called him.
Ten windows were smashed at Floyd’s. Polk estimated the damage at $6,000.
Police checked downtown surveillance cameras at Fifth and Monroe streets to see if they could make out the identity of the person responsible.
Two officers went to Sammy’s at 8:25 a.m. to speak with Kelty, who “answered the door and immediately started ranting that he was upset because the police came to his business twice last night while he was hosting a private party,” according to the report. “He advised that police even wrote a subject a parking ticket because the vehicle was parked in a no-parking spot across the street.”
The officers asked Kelty who called police about his private party, and he responded, “That piece of (expletive) Denny Polk,” adding that Polk called the city’s liquor commission the previous Saturday to complain that Kelty had his beer lights on when he was not allowed to sell alcohol, according to the report.
The officers again asked if he knew what happened to the windows at Floyd’s.
“Tom opened the door and looked at the building as if he did not know what I was talking about, stared at the building for about 10 seconds, then answered ‘No,’” the report reads.
Anyone with information about the vandalism at Floyd’s is urged to call Crime Stoppers at 788-8427.