Charleston, West Virginia- www.dailymail.com- One county official summed up a public hearing Wednesday night about the fate of the controversial Pink Pony strip club with one word: “bizarre.”

Actually, the public hearing never happened.

It had to be rescheduled after the general manager of the club in Cross Lanes told the Kanawha County Planning Commission the club’s owner and lawyer had scheduling conflicts and couldn’t attend Wednesday’s meeting.

Don Springsteadah asked commissioners if they would postpone the hearing until the two would be present.

But when commissioners began questioning him, he would not answer any inquiries, even refusing to identify the club’s owner or attorney.

County Commission President Kent Carper, who serves on the planning commission, said Springsteadah’s presentation was “bizarre.”

The Pink Pony lost its liquor license in 2003, and presumably shut its doors, after Powerball winner Jack Whittaker said he was drugged and robbed there.

Now, club management is petitioning to get back its liquor license and reopen as an adult establishment.

However, a county ordinance that took effect in 2004 says that establishments serving alcoholic beverages must be at least 2,000 feet apart.

Because a T.G.I. Friday’s bar and restaurant is closer than that to the Pink Pony, it would appear the establishment would be ineligible for a liquor license.

The club, however, is trying to make the case that it never closed, and that it has been open since 2003 operating three nights a week as a juice bar, under the name West Virginia Country Club Inc.

Wednesday’s hearing was to be an opportunity for the club to present evidence it has been open and for members of the public to speak out about the potential for the club to regain its liquor license.

Several members of the community were present and were prepared to testify, but were not given the opportunity.

There were also eight sheriff’s deputies on hand, along with Chief Deputy John Rutherford, to testify that they believe the business has been abandoned.

“They’re obviously not ready for an appeal,” Commission President Kent Carper said Wednesday of the Pink Pony’s management. “Call this the ‘dog ate my homework’ excuse. The taxpayers and citizens made time to be here and these deputies made time to be here, but the lawyer and the owner can’t be here.”

Springsteadah did turn over tax documents Wednesday night connected to the business, which the club was asked last month to produce as part of its appeal.

One document identified the club’s owner as Jack Galardi and the attorney as Suzanne Coe.

Rutherford said the uniformed deputies who were present at Wednesday’s meeting work in the Cross Lanes area. He said they planned to testify that they know there has been no activity at the club because they use the building’s abandoned parking lot to observe traffic.

“We have no reason to believe that the business is open,” Rutherford said. “We know the history of the establishment, and we’re concerned about what reopening it would mean for the community.”

Rutherford said deputies worry about an increase in the types of crimes that are often associated with an adult entertainment establishment, including physical altercations, thefts and drunken driving.

Deputy B.D. Humphreys said after the meeting that he has only recently started working in the Cross Lanes area, but he has never seen any sign that the Pink Pony is in operation.

“There’s no evidence anyone’s been there,” Humphreys said.

As of Tuesday, the building appeared to have been boarded up and the property was overgrown with weeds.

Deputy J.L. Lester said he wasn’t impressed with Springsteadah’s brief comments to the commission.

“Their presentation tonight shows the lack of professionalism we’ll see out of this company,” Lester said. “That’s the same unprofessional attitude the people in that community will see.”

The planning commission voted to grant the Pink Pony a continuance on the matter after Springsteadah made a phone call to ensure the club owner and lawyer would be in attendance at the next public hearing. That has been scheduled for May 13 during a regular planning commission meeting.

Those meetings are held in the county commission courtroom, located on the first floor of the County Courthouse on Virginia Street.