Club Owner's Connections Include Jesse Jackson & Son

NBC5 NEWS ^ | Feb 18, 2003 | NBC5 News

[KeyLargo]

NBC 5.COM

Club Owner's Connections Include Jesse Jackson & Son 'A Responsible Individual And A Responsible Businessman'

CHICAGO

Friends, including Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.), are coming to the defense of the club owner whose Chicago nightclub was the scene of 21 deaths when customers piled up in a rush for the door early Monday morning.

Dwain Kyles' father is a civil rights leader and friend of Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jesse Jackson Jr. -- a childhood friend -- issued a statement Tuesday calling Kyles "a responsible individual and a responsible businessman."

Kyles' pastor, Bishop Larry Trotter, said Kyles is confused and hurt by the incident but willing to take full responsibility for it.

The city is seeking criminal charges against Kyles for keeping the club open despite building code violations.

[KeyLargo]

E2 Chicago 2347 South Michigan Ave. (312) 326-2300

"This sprawling corner club has reinvented itself four times under the sharp eyes of owners Calvin Hollins and Dwayne Kyles. From an underground house music club called La Mirage and the stylish Heroes where Scottie Pippen was dissed by all the women, to the infamous Clique, to its current state as E2 Chicago, it's been a successful run. E2 promises to be the most successful of all, featuring a concert hall, fine dining room and state-of-the art trappings. " http://www.nightclub.com/magazine/October00/10not.html

http://kroxam.com/World%20News.htm According to business records, the club is owned by Lesly Motors, which is next door, and Chicago attorney Dwain Kyles and his business partner Calvin Hollins.

Hollins served prison time in the 1980s for shooting a man outside another nightclub.

Jesse Jackson had written a letter to CHICAGO 2ND WARD Alderman Madeline L. Haithcock sometime before the 21 deaths at the nightclub and asked her to basically give the club some slack. Jesse wanted extra (tax payer funded) police around the club to provide security for the club.

"Ald. Haithcock had used E2 for fundraisers. She stood outside the club Monday and said, "It is a very nice nightclub. I can't tell you anything that was wrong with it."

Jesse Jackson said, "The owners are victims."

"African American community activists rallied to the club owners defense, arguing that they should be given a chance to address the problems because it was an important black-owned business in the city." Chicago Tribune.com

[rickmichaels]

If Jacka$$ had any sense (he doesn't), he would have STFU about this whole incident and not gotten involved. He's danced on the minefield for too long and now he's put his foot down on the wrong spot. Looks good on him.

[stripes1776]

Oh! Well, because the owners were African American that means they can do no wrong. It doesn't matter that they violated the law. It doesn't matter that people were killed because they violated the law. They were African Americans and that is all that matters. African Americans never do anyting wrong. So let's just forget about the deaths. Everything is just great!

Besides, it's all the fault of those evil white, Anglo-Saxon Protestants. Don't ask for any logical explanation for this. It's just the way it is.

[razorback-bert]

Dwain Kyles and his business partner Calvin Hollins.

Hollins served prison time in the 1980s for shooting a man outside another nightclub.

How does a convicted felon get a liquor license?

[Fledermaus]

Sue the airline for letting Jesse bump you back to coach.

If it was me, I'd have left coach and went to first class and bashed his face in.

[razorback-bert]

To answer my own question

A letter sent to the club's president just last December from the head of a community coalition cited over crowding complaints including one from a patron who said the dance floor was so crowded she could not move.

If there was an emergency according to the letter the results could be catastrophic. Early this morning for dozens of people the catastrophe came true.

So far the club owners are said to be answering police questions. They are Calvin Hollins and Dwayne Kyles. Hollins is a former Cook County deputy sheriff who lost his badge and gun more than a decade ago when he was involved in a fatal shooting at another nightclub.

Hollins is a former business partner of bouncer turned actor Mr. T and an associate of former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson.

The ABC7 I-team has learned of lawsuits against the owners and various incarnations of their club, at least eight suits filed in Cook County since 1996 including two this year alone, all wrongful death/personal injury suits including the most recent, in which two parkers alleged they were strip searched at gun point and beaten by nightclub security guards.

[Always Right]

Good thing this wasn't a honky-owned bar or Jackson would be calling for heads to roll....

[Dante3]

I was hoping the adulterous Rev. Jesse Jackson and unfit father had faded from news. But there he was.

[battlegearboat]

The Most Reverend Exalted Jesse Jackson has splained it already for goodness sake!

"It was the Teoawist! It was Been Laaaaadin!"

[mhking]

There it is...

[mhking]

Black conservative ping

If you want on (or off) of my black conservative ping list, please let me know via FREEPmail. (And no, you don't have to be black to be on the list!)

Extra warning: this is a high-volume ping list.

[Mudboy Slim]

"King of the Ho's"
(To be sung to Roger Miller's "King of the Road")

Traitor EX-President...
Nukes sold to ChinaMen...
Waco...we shan't fergit!!
Toddlers charred like cigarettes!!
Yeah, Slick...snorts coke like a vacuum...
Bill puts...his ol' friends in their tombs!!
Still Slick's...Lib'rals kneel fer their King...
King of the Ho's!!!

Slick's ceegars sure do stink...
Masturbatin' in his sink.
Hill's a worn-out dried-up shrew...
Bill ain't touched her in many moons!!
Yes, folks...li'l Willard gets around...
Short...and not too big around!
Left prays...to their King on their knees...
King of the Ho's!!

Slick bombed Kosovo, li'l Sudan, and Saddam Hussein...
Killed many young children but hasn't no shame!!
Slick's got his hand out in every town...
Yet, we'll FReep his House and FReep Fer Justice and we'll bring him down!!
I sing...Traitor EX-President...
Nukes sold to ChinaMen...
Waco...we shan't fergit!!
Toddlers charred like cigarettes!!

Yeah, Slick...snorts coke like a vacuum...
Bill put...McDougal in his tomb!!
Still Slick's...Lib'rals kneel fer their King...
King of the Ho's!!!
Traitor EX-President...
Nukes sold to ChinaMen...
Waco...we shan't fergit!!
Toddlers charred like cigarettes!!

And a Good Morning PING to you as well...MUD

[mikeb704]

From Michael Sneed's column in today's Chicago Sun-Times:

Jackson's longtime nemesis, the Rev. Anthony Williams, tossed out this tidbit: Jackson's daughter, Jacqueline, is "intimate'' with Calvin Hollins, a co-owner of the E2 Chicago club. Quoth Jesse: "It's not true.'' Oh.

Michael M. Bates: My Side of the Swamp

[lewislynn]

That business was private property and the government doesn't have the right to tell owners what to do on their private property. < /sarcasm >

[ValerieUSA]

Is there a list of the victims and their ages somewhere?

[aeronca]

Altho this is not a humorous story, the first thing I said when I saw this news item the other day is:"How long will it take Jackson to come out and blame this on white people?"

So far he is not pointing fingers at whites, but I was still somewhat amused to see him tied to this story so soon.

[Salvation]

It will be interesting to see of the City of Chicago goes after Jackson too.

[bray]

Wonder how much Budweiser they were selling for his son's distributorship?? Graft is an ugly word!

Pray for GW and the Truth

[FreeTally]

cited over crowding complaints including one from a patron who said the dance floor was so crowded she could not move.

Not to downplay this at all, but this is a problem at literally thousands of clubs. It surprising that more of these incidents don't happen. When I was in college, there were several clubs like this. By 1:00 am, it was shoulder to shoulder, body to body throughout the place. Totally miserable. I sent to sports bars instead.

Hollins is a former business partner of bouncer turned actor Mr. T and an associate of former heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson.

I remember this guy. Hollins and another guy were Mr. T's partners who sued him. They look and act like real pimps. They owned a club where T was a bouncer and thats how they discovered him.