BEAUMONT, Texas — The Park on Calder is possibly closing after the owner cites "ongoing harassment" from the Beaumont Police Department.
Deondre Moore announced through a Facebook story that The Park on Calder is facing a closure.
Moore says business is slow and he's depleted his life savings trying to stay afloat.
"At this rate the rate that we're going the best thing for us to do is to possibly just have to close down," Moore said.
This comes after a year of issues with Beaumont Police and the city. Moore claims that officers have continued "doing anything and everything they can to hurt us."
"We started off extremely strong but then we started experiencing blatant racism," said Moore.
In September 2023, after almost a week of being open The Park found itself in the middle of controversy involving crowds and safety.
Off-duty Beaumont police officers discovered 30-year-old Leroy Smith dead in a driveway on the property.
Officers charged 21-year-old Augusta Simon with the murder of Smith after he and another man from Houston tried to make a run for it.
The shooting sparked months of back-and-forth about police protection and safety.
Moore told 12News at the time that he was struggling to get Beaumont Police officers to beef up security. He wanted to make it clear that the shooting happened in the alley outside his restaurant, not at his restaurant. He says customers use the alley to walk to a parking lot on the other side of Calder.
Then residents who live near The Park took their concerns about the bar and restaurant to the city council. They voiced their complaints about customers disturbing the peace and causing problems off of The Park's property.
Moore says ongoing complaints are taking a toll on the business.
"Because of the lack of business that has been able to come through here because of the deterring factors of having the police show up constantly and being harassed. It creates a fear factor for customers," he said.
In November 2023, Moore claimed that the City of Beaumont and Beaumont Police Department were trying to shut his business dn.
"We've seen acts of, what I would call, racist efforts to try to come in and shut us down and try to find something wrong with our establishment... We've had constables working security at the time and the Beaumont Police Department have still come out and issued citations even when our doors are closed, there's no music playing," Moore said during a press conference.
He said the the police department intentionally cited the restaurant for noise violations and that Beaumont officers unlawfully searched The Park in connection with a DWI investigation.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) previously confirmed to 12News that there was an ongoing investigation into The Park related to a DWI crash that injured a Beaumont Police officer.
After the press conference a group supporting The Park on Calder spoke out during a Beaumont City Council meeting reiterating calls of unfair treatment and racism by the police department.
Former Beaumont Police Chief Jimmy Singletary categorically denied that his officers were targeting the establishment.
12news reached out to Beaumont Police about the allegations.
Police Chief Tim Ocnaschek provided us a statement saying in part, "Police have responded to calls for service from the business and complaints from neighbors. We strive to provide fair and equitable service to all."
John Fears is the owner of Calder Cleaners and Shirt Laundry, just feet away from The Park.
"It's the visitors to the club late at night. In fact three weeks ago I caught a couple girls trying to cut through my property. It's just the disrespect by patrons sometimes," Fears said.
Moore tells 12News that while officers are responding to noise complaints by writing tickets, they've threatened they'll eventually be able to arrest him.
He claims it's gotten worse after Beaumont Police changed leadership.
"Chief Singletary put in place that if the officers did come here they were to not write tickets, they were to only give us a warning first and then if things continued then they were to write a ticket. Well that helped us out a lot because it deterred that and it showed us that there was not a necessary reason to continue writing so many tickets other than to try to hurt us," Moore said.
Moore says there is nothing he wishes he would have done differently.
He has started a GoFundMe for supporters to donate and will be extending hours starting next week to avoid the possible closure, which is scheduled for the end of November.
