For Charles Foster’s mom, justice is served with demolition of Club Majestic

Four years after shutting down Club Majestic on Cusseta Road, Mayor Teresa Tomlinson climbed into a demolition truck Monday to operate the crane that eventually knocked down the community eyesore.

The mayor gave the building its first blows as residents, community activists and city officials cheered, applauded and captured the event on their smartphones. Among those who cherished the moment was the mother of Charles Foster Jr., a college student killed at the club in 2013.

“It’s been hard, it’s been very hard; I’ll never get over it,” she said of her son’s untimely death. “But I feel like justice is done with that building being knocked down. It’s going to be a better community and I’m looking forward to people getting along better.”

Speakers at the event included Tomlinson, City Manager Isaiah Hugley, Councilor Evelyn “Mimi Woodson” and the Rev. Willie Phillips, founder of Winterfield on the Move Against Drugs, whom city officials recognized as a longtime advocate for the neighborhood.

Prior to the demolition, they sat with other city officials and residents under a tent near where refreshments were served.

In her opening remarks, Tomlinson said Foster’s death was the impetus for the new vision for the crime-ridden neighborhood.

“We couldn’t come together, especially in this place, and not remember Charles Foster, a young man with so much promise, so much potential; his life was snuffed out way to early,” she said. “And it was because of Charles that we came together and drew a line in the sand that said, ‘No more. That’s it.’ ... And so this is Charles’ legacy, and it forever will be.”

The mayor said the 2200 Cusseta Road location sits at five corners, which is usually the heartbeat of a community. She said the city would work with residents to invest in the neighborhood and spark neighborhood renewal.

“So what we do today is not really just one building or several lots that have been put together, but it’s really restoring the heartbeat of this community for those of you who have stayed and have continued to invest, have held the line and said, ‘We’re going to return to what we used to be, we’re going to return to the great neighborhood we always could have been and that we now are gonna be.”

Tomlinson and Columbus Council shut down Club Majestic in 2013 after the fatal shooting of Charles Foster. At the time, they described the property as public nuisance due to constant reports of violence and criminal activity.

Foster, 24, was the first homicide of 2013 after he was shot in the chest on New Year’s Day at Club Majestic. He was scheduled to graduate from Columbus State University that spring, and officials presented his degree posthumously at his funeral.

In 2014, Dequandrea Artavas Truitt and Shaquille Porter were convicted on two counts each of murder, seven counts of aggravated assault and two counts of possessing of a firearm during a felony. They were both sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole plus 25 years.

In January, the city spent about $365,800 to purchase a five-parcel site that includes the property, with the intention of attracting developers as part of a Winterfield improvement plan.

This story was originally published April 17, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "For Charles Foster’s mom, justice is served with demolition of Club Majestic."