Whipped Cream Difficulties

I have previously written about the strange case of Maurice McKnight, the dancer at a male strip club who allegedly punched struck a patron, causing the patron to fall, hit his head, and die.

Yesterday, Mr. McKnight pled guilty to manslaughter. He will serve 5 years in prison.

Back on the “if you go clubbing downtown, you’re clubbing with Hezbollah” beat, the Statesman has a long article about Yassine Enterprises, the people behind it, and their legal problems. Interesting:

• “Despite persistent surveillance, the Yassines and their associates are not accused of any wrongdoing after 2009…”
• “Investigators testified that Steve Yassine has not paid his taxes in years. Hadi Yassine did not file tax returns in 2009 and 2010, and ones he did file did not match his income, IRS agent Neff said. Neff also said Yassine Enterprises was underreporting its income. “

Also noteworthy: the state wants to take away their liquor licenses. I don’t think it is so much because of the criminal charges, as it is because…

• “…the clubs owe a local liquor distributor more than $210,000.”

• “… businesses linked to Mike Yassine, the company’s president and owner, were almost $600,000 behind in sales and mixed-beverage taxes as of late March.”

The State of Texas really does not like it when you get behind in your sales and beverage taxes. They tend to get cranky and start seizing things, like bottles and money in the cash register. Of course, the latter might not be a problem for Yassine Enterprises, since eight of their nine businesses are closed.

And what does this mean for Sixth Street?

Owners of other downtown bars said they initially feared the closures would deter people from heading downtown but, so far, that hasn’t been the case.

…

If they remain dark long-term, landlords shouldn’t have a hard time finding new tenants, said Michele Gary, a vice president in the commercial retail division at the Weitzman Group.

My first thought is that Ms. Gary is a lot more optimistic than I am. Would you want to open a club downtown in this economy? Then again, people are going to drink no matter what…maybe she’s on to something.