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Island Club Owner Charged With Felony Assaults
On October 2nd of last year, Mike Allen turned 60. With his white hair, beard, and jolly belly, he could convince any toddler that he is good Saint Nicholas himself. As Galveston County computer guru, Mike has a great job with excellent benefits. Most men in his position are settling down to a routine that includes spoiling the grandkids and planning for retirement - their "wild and wooly days" far behind. That's most guys - but not necessarily Mike Allen. Mike's sedate grandfatherly appearance is not borne out by the records on file at the Galveston District Attorney's office….
CLUB OWNER: A couple of years ago, Mike Allen bought the famed Strand Street Saloon in downtown Galveston. After the Balinese Ballroom closed, the Saloon had become the busiest live music venue on the Island, with headliners like Leon Russell, Rick Derringer, Pat Travers, Georgia Satellites, and Bert Wills regularly appearing. The crowd was a friendly/rowdy mix of bikers, musicians, and bohemians - with a steady clientele of mariners, retirees, businessmen and local floozies thrown into the mix. Considered one of the best "pour" bars in the state, the Saloon could boast of having the best bartenders in town.
After Allen bought the club, he started making changes - wanting to attract more of the tourist trade, and run off the bikers. He renamed the club "Poor Michael's Saloon" and experimented with karaoke, honky-tonk piano players, and other gimmicks (with apologies to purveyors of karaoke and itinerant piano players). The tourists never came, but the bikers left. All this tampering left the club with a fraction of the business it did in the heyday years - but still a popular spot on the Strand. Mike's renovations inside the club were much needed and well done.
PHILANTHROPIST: Mike Allen seems to have a soft spot in his heart for the downtrodden. When a local merchant seaman lost his "card" and fell on hard times, Mike gave him the money to get it back. When Mike found that a local homeless man who had served in the military had become a crackhead, Mike got him into rehab and helped him get straight. Every Christmas since he has owned the bar, Mike has fed the homeless and poor with a gigantic feast of hams, turkeys, and delicious treats. One denizen of the back alleys told me that Mike had helped him out with money for a bed and shower a couple of times. Mike's largesse toward the unfortunate makes the incidents described in Galveston police reports seem out of character.
THE WHATABURGER INCIDENT: Just 2 weeks after his 60th birthday, Allen allegedly lost his cool at the Whataburger Drive In on 6th Street in Galveston around 2am on a Sunday night. He is accused of ramming the vehicle in front of him, possibly because he felt they were taking too much time at the drive-thru window. When the driver of the vehicle, a 31 year-old Hispanic female, got out to look at the damage and call police, Allen is alleged to have tried to back out of the drive-thru. The victim then went around behind Allen's car to get his tag number. At this point Allen is alleged to have tried to run the victim over. Two Galveston County Deputies arrived on the scene first, then contacted the City Police to take over, since the incident occurred in city jurisdiction. According to a witness, Allen told the two deputies that they "worked for him" and that he would "have their badges". When the city police officer arrived, he was unaware that Allen had tried to run the victim over, and merely wrote a ticket for what he thought was an accident. Allen was let go with just a citation, despite the fact that the victim and witnesses said Allen intentionally tried to run her over. Later, when city detective Rick Kershaw interviewed the victim, he realized that Allen could plea out to the misdemeanor and "walk" on a deadly assault - so he quickly had the ticket dismissed and filed the felony charge of Aggravated Assault. Allen was arrested on December 13th at the County Building where he works. As he was being led from the building, he asked his boss to call his wife and his lawyer. He never asked what he was being arrested for - he assumed it was murder, according to a source. Detectives had intentionally planned his arrest for the anniversary of a brutal Island murder that they believe Mike was involved in exactly one year earlier. More about that later. The actual charge was Aggravated Assault with intent to commit bodily harm. Mike Allen was taken to the Galveston County Jail, and bond was set at $150,000.00. Mike paid a 10% non-returnable fee of $15,000.00 to get out. You'd think that a well-respected county employee and business owner would be released on personal recognizance, or at least a smaller amount. Normally this would be so. But you see, Mike Allen was already on bond for two OTHER people he allegedly tried to run over!
THE ROLLERBLADERS INCIDENT: According to police reports, about 8pm on Sunday, March 24 a 911 call was received from the 2000 block of Strand Street. Officers reportedly arrived to find Mike Allen "irate and intoxicated". Two victims, aged 22 and 36, reported that Allen instigated a confrontation with them in front of his club. He then got into his Toyota Camry, and chased them down, repeatedly trying to run them over with his car, according to accounts. One of the victims, an area funeral home owner and director, described how he, his wife, and two friends were rollerblading downtown when Mike pulled in front of them. Because he almost hit them, they shouted for him to "watch out", and he responded verbally and irately. They responded in a similar fashion, and then, according to the victim, things took a turn for the bizarre. Allen allegedly began trying to run the group over with his Toyota, and managed to hit the funeral director hard enough to bust the Toyota's windshield. He then went after a bicyclist who was with the group, and allegedly struck him. Then he went after the group again, and tried to get his car over the curb onto the sidewalk where they huddled in a doorway frantically calling 911 on their cell phones. The officer who responded arrested Allen on two counts of Aggravated Assault With a Deadly Weapon, and bond was set at $50,000.00. The police report said the incident was "alcohol related". When the report arrived at headquarters, detectives were already familiar with Mike Allen, as a result of another investigation that started 3 months earlier.
MURDER MOST FOUL: A brief item in the Galveston Daily News of December 18, 2001 told about a woman's body being found in a garage apartment on Avenue O˝. The woman was identified as 49 year-old Ginger Dare. She died of blunt trauma to the head, and at least one stab wound. She was found in a large pool of blood inside her front door. There were no signs of forced entry. She had been dead 2-3 days when discovered by friends who picked the lock to gain entry. Inside the apartment police found that someone had turned on all four gas jets on the stove. A partially-burned candle was found. It looked as if someone had set the place up to explode. The apartment was ransacked and in disarray. Near the door lay Ginger Dare, brutally beaten on the head and stabbed. Based on the crime scene, detectives ruled out robbery as a likely motive.
Ginger Dare worked at Galveston's American National Insurance Company. She also knew Mike Allen. Witnesses say the pair had dated for years. But by all accounts their romance had cooled. Weeks before Ginger's death, Mike Allen had suddenly married a girl from another state whom he had reportedly met in an internet chat room. Feelings between Allen and Dare had become strained, according to witnesses. One witness stated that Dare had threatened to report Allen for keeping "two sets of books". Dare lived alone in the upstairs garage apartment which was owned by Mike Allen.
Although the police will not call Allen a suspect in the killing, he is obviously all that and more. Efforts to get information about the case from Galveston Police Detective Sgt. Rick Kershaw were met with a very official "It is my policy never to comment about an open investigation". We did discover that Allen was offered the opportunity to take a polygraph and so far has chosen not do so - and that he paid someone to remove the carpets and do a thorough cleaning and repainting at the apartment immediately after police secured the scene, according to a former employee.
NO COMMENT: Mike Allen isn't expected to comment on the case - his lawyers would probably have him shot. Too bad, because there are a couple of questions that should be answered. Dare's family would like to know what happened. Did Dare threaten Allen with revealing illegal activities? Blunt trauma to the head in someone's doorway is typically "anger-related". You don't premeditate bashing someone's head in - you just get pissed off and do it. Did she know anyone with that violent of a temper? What about these alleged attempts to run people over? We tried to interview Allen, but were unable to contact him by telephone, and messages were not returned. We even tried e-mail, but the County's entire website (co.galveston.tx.us) has not been working for at least two weeks. Calling the County about this results in a humanless telephone answering system circle-jerk. (Persons who recently criticized County Commissioner Ken Clark for spending county money on a separate site (kenclark.org) should take note that HIS site is having no problems.)
WATCHING OUR ASSES: Mike Allen has not been convicted of anything at this time. He is "innocent until proven insane" as they say. That is why he is still working for the County. That is why his bar is still licensed by TABC (as Morgan Holdings Inc). If he gets convicted of any of the felonies he is charged with, he may find both in jeopardy. Meanwhile, the drinks are still flowing at Poor Michael's, and Poor Michael himself reports to his office job every day in downtown Galveston. The club is up for sale however.
Because Allen is a high-ranking employee of Galveston County and because he owns a nightclub, and because he has been arrested on numerous felony assaults, and because there is a murder investigation - the story rises to the level of news. It falls squarely into NightMoves journalistic jurisdiction. We cover the clubs. The best way to stay out of the news is to avoid riding around in the back of police cars. It is our sincere hope that Mike Allen didn't kill or assault anyone, and that it's all some large cosmic comedy of errors. Mike's next court date is Feb 26th in front of Judge Norma Venso on Aggravated Assault charges related to the rollerbladers incident. We'll be there.
(GATOR) © gatorpress 2003
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