City Orders Bar Shut Down in Buena Clinton

Garden Grove officials ordered the Sin Not bar closed Thursday, three weeks after a parade of police officers testified that the business is a center for heroin sales, prostitution and other crimes in the Buena Clinton area, which is considered Orange County’s worst slum.

Zoning Administrator John Graichen ruled that the Sin Not’s conditional use permit should be revoked, citing police testimony on the large number of arrests and the many calls to police as the reason for his decision. Bar owner Ezra Joseph has until Aug. 30 to file an appeal with the City Council.

Joseph said he would file the appeal and, if it’s denied, go to court to stay open. He added that he’d like to close up and forget the bar exists, but he says he will have to continue paying about $9,000 on his lease, which expires in December.

‘A Lot of Hearsay’

“We knew the decision was going to go against us,” he said. “I feel it was a lot of hearsay. A lot of the testimony came out of their minds.”

Officers testified during a hearing on July 24 that heroin was purchased at the bar at least 10 times during a recent undercover operation and there were 537 calls to police from January, 1982, to July, 1985. Police cited several stabbings, one shooting incident in which several people were wounded and a rape during the same period.

Police Lt. Ken Adair contended that the heroin-buying program revealed that dealers use the Sin Not, located at 12706 Westminster Ave., as a base of operations, with buyers coming from as far away as Riverside, San Bernardino and Los Angeles counties.

Easier Arrests Seen

He said closing the bar will restrict the dealers’ ability to operate and make it easier to arrest them.

“I think it’s going to assist us greatly,” he said. “I’m sure we’ll still have heroin sales in Buena Clinton. There just won’t be a focal point for it.”

Joseph, who police said was not involved in any of the criminal activity, admitted that there have been drug problems at the Sin Not but argued that they are unavoidable in any bar. “There are drug sales in every bar in Los Angeles and Orange County,” he said. “It’s not anything like it used to be. We’ve made a major effort to clean it up.”

He said parking lot lighting has been installed and employees are instructed to call the police to report any suspicious activity. Adair said the biggest obstacle to improvement is that Joseph hasn’t lived up to a promise to spend more time at the bar.

Joseph said that state Labor Board officials paid a visit to the Sin Not two days after last month’s hearing and closed the bar for a few hours when the barmaid couldn’t produce evidence that Joseph had purchased adequate employee insurance. Joseph called the move part of a campaign of harassment involving the city, the Police Department and Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control officials.

“I disagree, but what can you say?” said Adair. “Anyone who’s got five times the calls for service of other bars in the area is going to get some attention.”