ELYRIA — The operators of Mardi Gras Lounge are seeking their own liquor license, a move that would separate the establishment from the permit held by Dean Costa, the owner of Uncle Vic’s Nightclub.

Mardi Gras Lounge’s current liquor permit is linked with two other downtown Elyria bars — Uncle Vic’s and Benchwarmers Sports Bar.

Costa’s permit, which currently covers the operations of Uncle Vic’s, Mardi Gras and Benchwarmers Sports Bar, will be the subject of a public hearing 1 p.m. Oct. 5 at Elyria City Hall.

The hearing has been called because City Council contends Costa should not be allowed to renew the permit because of the problems the bar causes. During the hearing, the city and Costa will be able to present evidence and testimony arguing why the state agency should or should not renew the permit for the coming year.

Costa did not return a call for comment Wednesday.

According to the Department of Liquor Control, the request for a new permit just for Mardi Gras was received Sept. 6. Shane Loudy, who has operated Mardi Gras as a separate facility from Uncle Vic’s and Benchwarmers since February, previously has said he will do whatever is necessary to work with police and separate the bar from other problems in the downtown area.

“I don’t want to operate a business where the police need to come,” he said previously.

Loudy declined to comment Wednesday.

Law Director Terry “Pete” Shilling said he knows the bar has been under management by someone other than Costa for several months.

“I think this is a case where they want to purchase a license for themselves,” he said.

The pending permit request will not affect the upcoming hearing for Costa’s permit. Shilling said the issues at this time are separate.

Mardi Gras has had a hard time disassociating itself from the same crime and violence the city has said is common at Uncle Vic’s.

Shortly after Loudy took over, police say a February stabbing occurred at the bar and a number of other incidents have been linked by police to the bar, including one that happened just within the past few days.

An Elyria woman had to be flown to a Cleveland hospital after she was stabbed in an apartment on the upper floors of the building housing the bar, according to a police report. She told police she initially got into an altercation with another woman inside Mardi Gras and, after she left, she said she was attacked again by the same woman on the fourth floor of the building.

Police Chief Duane Whitely said the city learned of the request for the new license recently and his office will compile a report of the activity inside the bar so Council can make a decision about whether it should object to Loudy receiving the new license.

“It’s my opinion we should object to that liquor permit request,” he said. “It is not my call, but is up to City Council. But I can say we have had a number of issues and complaints about Mardi Gras.”

Contact Lisa Roberson at 329-7121 or lroberson@chroniclet.com.

ELYRIA – A longtime Lorain County maintenance worker was fired this week after he failed a mandatory drug test when he was involved in a car accident Sept. 2.

James Brown, 47, tested positive for cocaine, Lorain County Administrator Jim Cordes said. That prompted the county commissioners to vote to fire him at their meeting Wednesday.

Brown was driving west on Russia Road in Carlisle Township in a county-owned Ford Taurus when the car went left of center and struck an eastbound Dodge Dakota driven by Jeffrey Newman of Amherst, according to a crash report completed by the Ohio Highway Patrol.

Neither Newman nor his passenger was injured in the accident, which took place around 3 p.m., the report said. Cordes said that although Brown did go to the hospital he wasn’t seriously injured.

In a written statement, Newman told troopers that Brown’s car went through the stop sign at Murray Ridge Road and went left of center.

“I tried going into ditch, but didn’t make it all the way when the car struck my driver’s side rear,” Newman wrote.

In his statement, Brown wrote that he didn’t recall what happened, although he said that he had stopped at the stop sign.

“The next thing I remember was the airbag smacking my face and me jumping out to see what happen(ed),” Brown wrote.

Brown wrote that he didn’t know if he blacked out but didn’t believe he’d fallen asleep at the wheel.

Brown didn’t comment when reached by phone Friday, but Cordes said Brown could challenge his firing through the union grievance process. He said the commissioners had two options – terminating Brown’s employment or suspending him and placing him in a treatment program – after learning about the positive drug test.

Given the circumstances, Cordes said, the commissioners opted to fire Brown.

Brown pleaded no contest in Elyria Municipal Court to a charge of improper lane usage. He was fined $150 but $30 of the fine was suspended.

Neither the Patrol’s report, nor court records, indicate that drugs played a role in the crash.

Contact Brad Dicken at 329-7147 or bdicken@chroniclet.com.

LORAIN — His legs cramping in the scorching Afghanistan heat, U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Hall volunteered to sweep for bombs around an abandoned compound in Helmand Province on Aug. 31, 2009.

From left, Lance Cpl. David Hall’s parents, Lulu and Delmar Hall, at the podium, sisters Wendy Dull, Tracey “Terasa” Holmes and Lora Hall attend a ceremony that revealed a sign in his honor. (CT photo by Chuck Humel.)

Hall knew the area around the compound might be booby trapped, but if the Marines couldn’t find a water pump in the compound, two members of Golf Company who had collapsed from heat exhaustion might die. Those two Marines survived, but Hall didn’t.

“My legs are cramped bad, but I’ll go,” were among Hall’s last words before he was killed by a bomb, according to a journal entry from fellow Marine Lance Cpl. Chris Ventura. “Then he looked at me and said, ‘Ventura, reach in my pack and grab my sweeper.’ ”

Click here to view more photos.

Hall’s sister, Lora Hall, on Tuesday read from the journal during a ceremony dedicating a stretch of Interstate 90 west and state Route 2 east in Lorain as David R. Hall Highway. Hall’s family wiped away tears as one of the signs was unveiled during the ceremony at Lakeview Park.

Lora Hall, 41, said her brother’s fateful decision typified his courage and selflessness. Hall was not a gung-ho teenager when he enlisted in 2006. At 28, he had a well-paying job at the Ford plant in Avon Lake and knew the risks.

The Shiite-Sunni civil war in Iraq — where Hall served his first tour of duty training Iraqi police — was full blown when he enlisted and President George W. Bush was about to escalate American involvement. Lora Hall recalled begging her brother to reconsider.

“I said, ‘David, do you understand you could be dead in a year?’” she said. “His only response to me was, ‘This is something I have to do.’ ”

After surviving Iraq, Hall deployed to Afghanistan in June 2009 as part of President Barack Obama’s escalation of the war. Hall’s father, Delmar Hall, said his son believed he was making Afghanistan safer for Afghans, but Americans were increasingly at risk.

“He told me, ‘Dad, this is a big surge,’” said Delmar Hall, 60. “I don’t know if I’m going to make it back or not.”

Since his death, family members said they’ve tried to cope by remembering Hall’s Christian beliefs and positivism.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about you,” said Hall’s sister, Terasa “Tracy” Holmes, 41. “I know that you’re guiding me, pushing me, prodding me, everything that you need to do with my stubborn self.”

Hall was one of 1,657 U.S. soldiers killed in Afghanistan through Tuesday morning. With the Afghan government mired in corruption and the Taliban resurgent as the war approaches its 10th anniversary next month, Lora Hall said she understands why polls show the majority of Americans support rapid withdrawal. Hall’s mother, Lula Hall, is among them.

“I’m torn, because after losing him I just wonder if the war is doing any good,” said Lulu Hall, 60. “The war’s been going on long enough.”

Nonetheless, Lora Hall believes abruptly leaving an unstable Afghanistan would negate her brother’s sacrifice.

“Tell me how we’ve won, not when we’re going to leave,” Lora Hall said. “Because my brother’s life was sacrificed for that mission.”

Community service

U.S. Marine U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. David Hall’s family is organizing a volunteer effort to refurbish a park on Fairless Drive in Lorain near Southview Middle School. Volunteers will be asked to donate at least four hours time and can sign up through a website that goes online Sunday.

For more information, email Lora Hall at lhall@ieduglobal.com or visit http://serveloraincounty.org.

Contact Evan Goodenow at 329-7129 or egoodenow@chroniclet.com.