Someone targeting Rice Village-area bar?

HOUSTON

Hans Bier Haus was open on the night of Christmas Eve, but it was a tough decision after vandals struck overnight. The owner's Christmas wish, he says, is for it to stop.

"We closed up last night about 2:30 and left and when we came in today at 11:30, this is what we found," Hans Beir Haus owner Bill Cave said.

A crumbling rooftop, soggy sheetrock and shattered glass was not the way Cave wanted to start Christmas Eve.

Around opening time, Cave walked in and found six or seven heavy blocks of partially melted ice around the Bier Garten and on his rooftop.

"It hit on the roof and knocked the roof in there," Cave said.

One block busted the light bulb out of its fixture. Another rattled a rack of glasses. A third, in the back, knocked out a tree limb.

"It's pretty badly damaged this time," Cave said.

Yeah, he said this time. Last month, the bar was "iced," similarly. In another instance, someone put a pile of rotting meat in the alleyway behind the Bier Haus.

"If it's a prank, it's a pretty malicious prank," Cave said.

Malicious and costly, Cave has already spent upwards of $6,000 to repair damage from previous hits. If it gets too expensive, he says he might have to shut down for good.

"I do rely on this to make a living, so yeah if we get shut down it's just bad news for me, Bill and everyone around here," bartender Jeff McClish said.

Regulars who stopped in were shocked.

"There's pieces of the ceiling missing, glass all over the floor so yeah, it's pretty bad," patron Sergio Ruiz said.

But they say they're glad at least no one was inside when it happened.

"That's dangerous, of course. A block of ice on the ground that size. I can't imagine what it looked like earlier today," Ruiz said.

"I hate to think what would happen because a block of ice that heavy could kill someone," Cave said.

Cave has filed several police reports and is hoping for resolution soon. The Houston Police Department says it will investigate each incident.