Battle Brewing Over Braddock Night Spot

BRADDOCK (KDKA) -- A surveillance camera was rolling the other night when Braddock Mayor John Fetterman drove up to a bar in his truck, got out and then proceeded to switch around letters on a sign near the front door of Club 804.

Instead of the sign reading: "Closed for renovations – will reopen soon," Fetterman changed some letters to read: "We will not be reopening soon."

"He had no right to touch our property," Collins said. "I'm not going to run away. I have big plans for this club and I will see them through with or without the mayor's cooperation," the new owner of the nightspot, Cardell Collins, told KDKA-TV.

Collins thinks his plans for a new night club and for a liquor license from the state are being hampered by Fetterman.

As for Fetterman, he describes the nightclub as a nuisance bar and the scene of numerous recent troubles, including two people shot outside the club last month.

"We're going after the club with vigor because it's public nuisance No. 1 in our community," Fetterman said.

Jesse Brown, the president of the Braddock Borough Council, and who seldom sees eye-to-eye with Fetterman, said he didn't know why the mayor was so adamant about closing the club and he didn't think council was of Fetterman's opinion about the night spot.