Police say the Colonial’s management could face charges if it persists
By TOM COOMBE
Morning Call (Allentown, Pennsylvania)
Copyright 2006 The Morning Call, Inc.
Bangor’s fire chief closed down the Colonial Hotel on Sunday after deeming it unsafe.
Now, the 101-year-old building has attracted the attention of the borough’s police chief, who learned that some of the hotel’s exit doors allegedly had been locked from the outside.
The locked doors were mentioned at Monday night’s council meeting during a report by Fire Chief Robert Owens, who shut down the building after learning that the hotel’s fire alarms weren’t working.
Once the hotel closed, Owens and other firefighters inspected it, and found that the doors — including one from the basement and one leading to a fire escape — had been locked, Owens said.
That constitutes reckless endangerment, Police Chief Glenn Kerrigan told council members. He asked for copies of the photos taken of the doors during the inspection, and said he plans to share them with Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. If the problem persists, Kerrigan said, police will arrest the hotel’s management.
In a phone interview after the meeting, Theodore Bozakis, who owns the Colonial, said there were no locked exit doors in the establishment.
“I don’t know what they are talking about,” he said. “That’s a really, really big lie.”
He said the hotel management knows better than to block exits. “We know that’s against the law,” Bozakis said.
When Owens closed the hotel on Sunday, Bozakis accused him and the borough of discriminating against the Colonial’s low-income residents. At Monday night’s meeting, borough officials took exception to that stance.
“We’re actually protecting the people,” said David Ceraul, Bangor’s solicitor. "[Bozakis is] the one taking their money. We’re trying to keep them safe.”
This is the second time in four years that a fire call to the Colonial has turned up more problems.
In June 2002, the fire department evacuated the building after residents reported getting electrical shocks from their sinks. In the next few days, the borough discovered several zoning violations that had the hotel closed for six months.
Bozakis said this closure won’t be as long. He said that once the new alarm system is in and the smoke detectors brought up to date, he’ll be able to reopen, possibly on Wednesday.
Residents have been staying with relatives or in hotel rooms provided by the American Red Cross of the Greater Lehigh Valley.