By Richard Gaines
Staff writer
May 15, 2008 05:39 am Surrounded by impatient creditors, Jazzy Joe's owner has promised to settle with all of them and reopen the West End bar and music club, which was locked by a deputy sheriff last month. "The goal is to pay off all creditors in two weeks," owner Sonia Anderson told the Licensing Board on Tuesday night. She was summoned to appear before the board after her former lawyer, Patricia Johnstone, won a court ruling and had the club closed and the liquor license confiscated. Johnstone was not present at the hearing, but her lawyer, Mark Nestor, was and so were lawyers for three other creditors; a vending company, the owners of the Main Street building that Anderson leases for the club, and a citizen who won a court ruling after Anderson defaulted on a personal loan, leaving Laverne Saputo at risk of losing the house she pledged as collateral for the personal loan. Anderson told the board she had engaged a private lender to negotiate a settlement of the many debts that led to the shuttering of Jazzy Joe's at Johnstone's request. "This going to come to an end," said board Chairman Edward Pasquina. "The board has every right to take (the license) now." "This thing has got to end, these are marching orders," he added. The board gave Anderson until its June 10 meeting to settle with her creditors. Johnstone is owed $6,211 for legal work for Jazzy Joe's, including the negotiation of the lease with the owners of Jalape–o's restaurant, which shares the building with the bar, and a series of appearances before the board for changes of manager. AP Vending is owed more than $60,000, and Saputo has a $174,624 judgment against Anderson. The building's owners have obtained an eviction order against Jazzy Joe's, for failure to pay rent. All the creditors said they would prefer to be paid off than share proceeds from the sale of the liquor license, which the board could order to be auctioned off. Saputo's lawyer, Sal Frontiero, told the board that Saputo guaranteed a loan to Anderson, who defaulted and left Saputo facing foreclosure from the creditor. Anderson also said she intended to countersue Saputo and Jazzy Joe's landlord. Speaking of Anderson's promise to have all the debts settled, Pasquina said, "If it's going to happen, it's got to happen quickly. I'm looking for the cleanest way in which the lien holders are satisfied and the license returns and life goes on." Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com. ><p>
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Photos
The owners of Jazzy Joe's bar on Main Street have been given until June 10 to settle with creditors or face have the city auction off its liquor license. Staff photo