I am not very familiar with this area of the law. But what I have is a local bar in a bad part of town where all the drug dealing, etc goes on. Numerous arrests are made over there all the time. What can I do to close this place down?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Call your friendly neighborhood Atorney General - they have a few prosecutors who are (or were) tasked with assisting on nuisance abatement suits. Adrienne McFarland in the Prosecutor Assistance Division assisted the Tyler Police Department last year with forcing a hotel to clean up.

You might want to get you statistics together an contact alcohol beverage commission. They might pull their license or put pressure on them to clean up their act.

We shut down a bar on the Boulevard (the stretch of throughway from which comes at least half our business) about three or four years back by nuisance suit based on habitual drug trading. I think I still have all the forms (including the demand letter) if you want them. Also, the TABC is a good source (if they're interested), since they will be able to round up and provide to you all incident reports concerning a licensee. Occasionally, they come ask us to shut down a bar based on frequency of reports of conduct other than liquor law violations. Thejoint you describe sounds like "Roy's Place" from the Blues Brothers. Do they have chicken wire in front of the band?

Thanks for all the suggestions. There is no chicken wire because there is no room for a band. If you could email me the forms you have that would be great. We have got to do something about this place. People who live down there try to drive by and the drug traffickers keep the road so clogged - the good people have to stop and are accosted by the drug dealers. It is awful. My email address is kspears@tlab.net. Thanks

If I wanted to learn more about this area, is there a manual out there somewhere?

A few years ago the AG published a manual titled "Narcotics and Vice Section Property Closure Manual" The last copy I have is from 1996 and it seemed to incorporate all the suggestions mentioned in these posts. You might see if a newer copy exists. This one came from the financial crimes and specialized prosecutions division.