Bar owner charged with having food critic assaulted

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Posted: 07/01/2010

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) -- A bar owner in Albany, N.Y., is charged with having a newspaper food critic beaten up.
Timothy Rankins was arraigned Friday in county court on a misdemeanor assault charge.

The 41-year-old Rankins is accused of having associates beat up Steve Barnes as the Albany Times Union's
food writer left a restaurant with a friend in October 2008.

Bail for Rankins was set at $5,000. His lawyer did not immediately return a call seeking comment. Jason Spiegel, the brother of a professional fighter from Troy, was charged Thursday with taking part in the attack.

The fighter was previously charged, but a judge threw the case out. The paper has reported on Rankins' connections to city officials, charges that he failed to pay $191,000 in taxes and that he was one of the city's worst parking scofflaws.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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