VIDALIA — One of the owners of Danny’s Lounge expects to meet with city leaders next week to discuss the city’s denial of the bar’s liquor license.

The meeting had not been scheduled this week at owner Sandra White’s request because she spent the first part of it in Washington, D.C., for the presidential inauguration, White said.

For the last six months the city and the club’s owners have exchanged rhetorical shots about what should be done about reports of crime at the bar.

City officials contend that the club has been a magnet for drugs, violence and noise violations.

The owners have responded that many of the incidents linked to the club did not actually happen there, and that they can’t be held responsible for their patrons or things that happen outside of their property.

In December, the city turned up the heat and denied a renewal of the bar’s liquor license, and Police Chief Ronnie G. “Tapper” Hendricks said the Louisiana Office of Alcohol and Tobacco Control cited the club for serving liquor.

They are not currently serving liquor, Hendricks said.

At the Jan. 13 city council meeting, the owners and a roomful of supporters asked that the license be reinstated, and their request led to the current plan to meet and discuss with the city.

Though the final outcome of the meeting will ultimately rest with the aldermen, City Attorney Jack McLemore said he believes the biggest issue they will take to the discussion will be the bar’s closing time.

The city has previously asked the club owners to close at 2 a.m., but at the time they said they did not do so because the city never gave them a meeting.

“The city has an ordinance that requires you to close at 2 a.m., but there is a state law that allows you to stay open 24 hours a day if you’re a restaurant,” McLemore said.

At the January board meeting, Police Chief Ronnie G. “Tapper” Hendricks displayed several guns and other weapons he said had been confiscated on the club property.

But Hendricks said he will not be present at the meeting between the aldermen and the owners because the decision isn’t his to make.

“It is ultimately the mayor and the board of aldermen’s decision to take their (liquor) license,” Hendricks said.

That doesn’t mean that the business is shutting down, or that the police won’t be involved, though.

“It is still my job to help them if they need me,” Hendricks said.

That means police will be keeping an increased presence in the area of the nightclub in the coming weeks, however, Hendricks said.

“We will be patrolling the area, giving them increased patrols,” Hendricks said. “That’s what (the owners) asked for.”