Broadway Street bar condemned after 6 people found living there

The Bears at 203 S. Broadway was condemned Monday after city officials executed a search warrant and found six people unlawfully living in unsafe and unsanitary conditions inside the closed bar.

This is the second building owned by Dianna Denton Buhler that city officials have condemned this year.

On Jan. 14, Buhler’s building at 201-205 S. Main St. was condemned after authorities executed a search warrant there and evicted 26 from the property. Buhler was the only person approved by the city to live above her store.

About 20 animals also were found in the Main Street building, which city officials said had fire hazards, electrical issues and lacked bathroom facilities.

Jerrica Fox, executive director of Downtown Poplar Bluff, said The Bears has been shut down in recent months, having closed within a day(s) after Buhler’s other building was condemned.

“We’ve been having numerous complaints on this location since we closed down the other place,” said Poplar Bluff Police Chief Danny Whiteley.

Most of the information city officials have received has been one to three days old, “too old for a search warrant,” Whiteley said. “We had fresh information this morning.

“Code enforcement (officers) had one of our detectives apply for a search warrant.”

Police officers, as well as code enforcement and animal control officers and firefighters assisted in the building search.

Also on the scene were Tony Chilton, building inspector; Matt Winters, city planner; Butler County Health Department and Butler County Emergency Management Agencies officials and Municipal Utilities personnel.

Whiteley said officials found environmental, health, electrical and plumbing issues, but not structural issues like those found earlier in Buhler’s Main Street building.

Based on Whiteley’s discussion with Chilton, he said, the “structural integrity of the (building) on Broadway is not anywhere as bad as the one up on Main Street.

“ …The unsanitary conditions and environmental conditions were certainly in the same ballpark (as Main Street),” Whiteley said. “They again, in my opinion, were certainly hazardous to the folks’ health.”

During the execution of the search warrant, six people were found living inside the bar, including William Richard Denton, 45, who was wanted on a parole absconder warrant, and several animals, said Whiteley, who indicated all the animals were “relocated to somewhere out in the county or another location.”

Whiteley said Buhler also was in the building when the search warrant was executed.

“The downstairs is not zoned for residential,” explained Winters. “No one is supposed to be living there regardless of the conditions of the building.”

Doors on either side of the bar lead to upstairs apartments, which city officials say is zoned residential.

“They (the tenants) can stay upstairs,” Chilton said.

In the downstairs, Code Enforcement Officer Darron House said, people were sleeping in three tents and two temporary structures inside the bar.

“It’s not a huge” space, Winters said. “When you first walk in there, there were still some tables and chairs set up.

“From there on back is where the tents and huts were. … There were people put up all along the wall on both sides.”

Winters described the area behind the bar as being “pretty small” between it and the wall.

There were space heaters in some of the tents, including one that still was running, said House, who indicated there were breaker box issues, as well as several extension cords being used.

Along with the bad living conditions, “people sleeping (in the bar) is against city ordinance,” Chilton said.

It’s “unlawful occupancy,” House added.

Due to the electrical and water issues in the downstairs area, Chilton said, city officials cut off power and water.

“The occupants that were in here, they are working out a timeline for them to get their personal belongings out” since the building was condemned, Whiteley said.

City officials, according to Whiteley, sympathize with those who were displaced Monday.

“Hopefully, they can find some social services or other resources to be able to (help them) relocate,” he said.

Chilton said Buhler has a building permit for the Broadway structure.

Since the permit was issued, he said, a new ceiling was put in and boards were installed behind the bar.

“That’s all I’ve seen,” said Chilton, who indicated the building had “more tenants” than the last time he was there.

Buhler, Chilton said, also has had an electrician working, and any work may continue during daytime hours only.

“They can’t sleep or stay in here,” said Chilton, who indicated a generator may be used while the work is going on.

Buhler’s permit, Chilton said, can be extended if the work is close to being done as the time it’s set to expire; however, if it expires and nothing has been done, it may not be renewed.

According to Chilton, this is not the first time the building has been shut down.

“We’ve been in there before (because) of all the animal feces,” Chilton said. “That’s the reason the health department shut it down before; we came in with all the building issues” at that time.

Poplar Bluff Police Patrolman Jeremy Elless and Cpl. Dusty Johson stand in front of the condemnation notice posted on the wall outside The Bears, 203 S. Broadway. DAR/Brian Rosener