The Baltimore Sun's police reporter, Justin Fenton, is still at the Circuit Court hearing where the owners for basement Belvedere club Ultralounge is fighting its liquor license revocation. Several people have asked for an update and I'll provide one as soon as he returns.

Meanwhile, more people have e-mailed me stories of violence and other problems. There were two more attacks on Saturday that I posted this morning. Here are some additional stories:

"Thank you so much for keeping us informed of the situation with this club. I live in the neighborhood and have become increasingly worried about the crowd on Saturday nights. And now I read your recent posting and realize that my worst fears have been realized. I witnessed the crowd of “club-goers” out on the corner of Saint Paul and Chase that evening and am just glad that I wasn’t one of those who were assaulted. 

I was not able to attend the hearing this morning but would greatly appreciate it if you could keep us all up-to-date on what is going on with this club. The club-owners have proven that they are utterly irresponsible and I hope that they are shut down permanently. In fact, I hope that they are never allowed to open a club anywhere ever again. They and their patrons have complete disregard for the neighborhood, not to mention the historic building that they are “partying” in.

I cannot emphasize how much I am scared and disgusted by this. This is our neighborhood, our city and I refuse to let it get to the point where we’re afraid to simply step out of our front doors on a Saturday night. Hopefully the city will do what is right and protect the safety of its citizens.  The incidents mentioned in your blog obviously point to a much larger problem simmering up in Baltimore, but hopefully we can start by at least taking one step in the right direction. Thank you again for keeping us up-to-date, Colby Johnson."

From a resident who didn't want her name used:

"Thanks so much for again raising the crime factor and undesirable element generated by the bottle club at the Belvedere. While I can’t attest to the crime (which is indeed frightening) I can tell you how it affects me as a resident of the 1000 block of Charles Street.
 
I love living in Mt. Vernon -- except on nights when the Club is open. I live between two parking lots on Morton Street in a small condo on the fourth floor. The noise from the denizens of the Club (and yes, I know they are coming from the Ultrasuede rather than the Hippo or Grand Central) is unbearable.

They park (illegally) in the spaces around my building, drink bottles of whatever is left over after they leave the club (or before they get there) and dump the empties in the lot or the alley by my door, blare their urban hip hop trash music until I can’t get back to sleep, and shout to each other in ghetto speak that would defy even the Big Phat Morning Team.
 
I dodge broken glass, fast food wrappers, and urine just to get to my car (and yes, it has been rifled, too.)
 
I’m sure the club will contend that “anyone” could be the offenders, and I’m not going to confront them to publicly say otherwise.  But after more than a year, I have become fluent enough to translate their language, and that’s the sewer they’re coming from.
 
I’m a hostage in my own home.  Worse, I can’t say anything about it because they know where I live.
 
Please post this anonymously on your blog. I don’t mean to trivialize the crime aspect. But when that furor dies down, the nuisance factor is an ongoing, every night problem that people are afraid to address, lest they seem “insensitive” to other cultures, or even racist.  This isn’t a race issue – it’s the right of the taxpaying residents of this city to be able to sleep at night and not have their neighborhood trashed.