Richland sheriff has wanted to shut down this Decker Boulevard club. It just closed
Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott just had a dream come true.
Mi Casita, a Decker Boulevard nightclub, permanently closed Tuesday, according to a Richland County Sheriff’s Department spokesperson.
Since 2017, Lott has talked about wanting to close the club, saying it’s a public nuisance and a danger to the community. Last week, he called out Mi Casita shortly after closing another club in Columbia that was the site of recent violence.
In the past three years, Mi Casita was the site of more than 50 incidents, from fights and alcohol violations to shootings and a homicide in 2017. For a time, the club also illegally operated as a “strip joint,” Lott said.
The 2017 homicide, in which a woman is alleged to have run over a man after arguing inside the club, ratcheted up Lott’s actions against the club. Deputies hit the club with stop work orders issued by the county. Mi Casita remained opened despite the opposition from authorities. Lott began to publicly decry his inability to shut down businesses with a history of violence because of what he described as weak county ordinances.
It looked like the place had cleaned up for a time, said Ron Huff, former president of the Greater Woodfield Neighborhood Association, which represents a community near the club. Huff had worked to get Mi Casita closed down but has since moved from the area. But in 2019 the moment of peace fell apart.
In January and July three people were shot in two shootings.
In April, Richland County Council retooled ordinances and empowered the sheriff to shutter “nuisance businesses,” after violence erupted at alleged illegal strip clubs and bars around Richland County.
“I didn’t want to shut anyone down,” said county councilman Jim Manning who represents the area where Mi Casita was located. “We wanted them to be a good business. These folks chose not to be. I’m thrilled to death they won’t be operating along Decker Boulevard.”
Thursday, Lott called out Mi Casita after utilizing his new power for the first time to chain the door of a “nuisance” northeast Columbia club, saying he was coming after the Decker Boulevard bar next.
Lott didn’t have to personally put a gold chain on Mi Casita’s door like he did with the northeast Columbia club. Instead, Mi Casita’s owner voluntarily relinquished the bar’s alcohol license. By relinquishing the license, Mi Casita’s owners have agreed to shut down the business for good, sheriff’s department spokesperson Capt. Maria Yturria said.
“Mi Casita’s owners were given multiple opportunities to correct the violations, but they didn’t,” she said.
The South Carolina Department of Revenue and the sheriff’s department planned on an emergency hearing for Aug. 1 to revoke the bar’s alcohol license, Yturria said, but Mi Casita gave up before the meeting took place.
The Department of Revenue will still move forward to completely revoke Mi Casita’s license to “ensure their permanent closure,” Yturria said.
Mi Casita is one of three bars around the Decker Boulevard area where shootings occurred. The sheriff’s department also took steps to try to close another one of those bars, Kandy Land, after a self-defense shooting and allegations of illegally operating as a strip club. A gunman shot five people during a New Year’s celebration at Face’s Lounge, another bar on Decker Boulevard. Kandy Land and Face’s Lounge closed voluntarily.
“My hope is that everybody sees Decker as a place for people who want to stand up for their neighborhood, not as a shady place where people just want to open up nightspots,” Huff said.
This story was originally published July 30, 2019 at 4:28 PM.