one of the most outspoken critics, sparky sparkman, owner of a local nightclub in panama city beach. after our coverage last year he told the local newspaper in october 2014, quote, this would not have been an issue if it had not been for hannity, his, you know, i call it assault on the beach. college spring break was over when he did that and had a mission, a ratings seeking mission and took advantage of us and blindsided us. and that's my view, and i've been saying that for a long time. joining us to explain those comments, we'll find out if he still feels that way in the wake of the recent violence, the owner of the beach club, sparky sparkman. is that your real name sparky? >> no sean it's a nickname. >> okay. >> last name is real. but i go by sparky. >> i actually read that the nightclubs make $40,000 to $50,000 a night in cover charges is that true? >> not this nightclub. >> no? you make a pretty significant amount of money, though? you admitted that in some articles, right? >> i have. i don't recall that, no, sir. i don't recall admitting to making any money in any articles. >

sparky sparkman hosts the spinnaker, a beachside club. >> you've got the crawl coming out of the doldrumsin lie as big part of the problem with spring break. >> reporter: so many problems the sheriff has to set up a spring break jail, a mobile booking center. last month there were almost 1,100 arrests triple the previous year's total, mainly for drinking and drugs. but armed and dangerous suspects jumped. sexual assaults almost doubled from six to level eleven. a gunman shot 11 people at a house party a few weeks ago and this video shows an apparent gang rape of a passed out 19-year-old woman. two men were later arrested. bay county sheriff frank mckeithen. >> what's so disgusting and repulsive and sickening about this is this is happening in broad daylight within ten feet of where this happened. there's hundreds, hundreds of people standing there. >> reporter: resident wes pittman wants the party controlled. your view the balance is completely out of whack? >> we're in chaos at the moment. this spring break the way it has evolved over the last several years has become a blight on the ent

sparky sparkman owns the spinnaker, a beachside club. >> you come from a crawl coming out of the doldrumsto 200 miles per hour overnight. therein lies a big part of the problem with spring break. >> reporter: so many problems the sheriff has to set up a spring break jail, a mobile book center. last month there were almost 1,100 arrests, triple of previous year's total, mainly for drinking and drugs, but armed and dangerous suspects jumped six-fold, from three to 18. sexual assaults almost doubled from six to 11. a gunman shot seven people at a house party a few weeks ago, and this cell phone video shows the apparent gang rape of a passed out 19-year-old woman. two men were later arrested. bay county sheriff frank mckeithen: >> what's so disgusting and repulsive and sickening about this is, is this is happening in broad daylight within 10 feet of where this happened, hundreds, hundreds of people standing there. >> reporter: resident wes pittman wants the party controlled. your view, the balance is completely out of whack. >> we're in chaos at the moment. it's-- this spring break, the way i

sparky sparkman's beach side bar, depends on the crowd of thousands. big business in the area. visitors spent upwards of 100 million dollars. and they say the gang rape happened near sparkman's restaurant. >> i'm trying to defend spring break as much as i can. >> and they passed ordinances aimed at curbing the partying. >> there is a bill to changing the but we're going to make spring break smaller. >> reporter: he's pushing for a rash of crowd and alcohol ordinances that he hopes would deter many from not coming at all. >> there is a trashy element that has found us and wants to participate. >> reporter: could mean a financial hit but after this year it seems ss worth the price. they don't have the resources they would need to deal with a crowd of this side. this is why people in the community have called for a clamp down and there does seem to be a consensus forming saying that the heinousness of the attack will be the tipping point in this community that will lead to the kind of change that many have been asking for, for many years now. >> and that'

money business owners like sparky sparkman don't want to lose. >> some residents think we don't needthe spring breakers. what do you say. >> i don't want to find out. >> the city council who vote on more changes next month. >>> crews skoug the indian ocean for the missing jet say the search area will double if no wreckage is found by may. so far crews from malaysia china and australia have searched 61% of the 23,000 square mile area. they found nothing. malaysia airlines flight 370 vanished more than a year ago. it was headed from kuala lumpur to beijing with nearly 250 people on board. >>> a chopper is safely back the a base this morning after making an emergency landing on a beach in north san diego. it was on a routine training mission when it received a low pressure warning. witnesses could say smoke coming from the aircraft before it landed. no one was injured. >>> to an fda crack down on popular snack bars marked as healthy but apparently it may not be the case. food and drug administration has a specific definitions of what it means to call a product healthy. >> it says four f

we talked to the owner of his club, sparky sparkman. this is part two of the interview. >> collegiate spring break in 2014. you came after it had ended. you did your thing -- >> that's a lie. we weren't filming grandmothers. we were filming kids in by i canikinis, watching people get arrested. seven kids have been shot and you're still making your money sparky. >> you accused me of lying. what am i lying about? >> i'm saying, we covered spring break. young kids from college on spring break. >> come on what am i lying about? how am i lying? >> i'm just -- >> you came in here after collegiate spring break. >> we weren't filming grandmothers. it was kids from schools from spring break. how much money do you make at night during the height of spring break? >> you were filming high school kids. primary high school kids. >> how many do you make at night from spring break, the height? >> it's none of your business. >> make a lot of money, isn't it? the reason you don't want to tell us is it's a lot of money. it's a lot of cash money. do you re

sparky sparkman's beach sidebar depends on thousands. spring break is big business in the area. in march of last year visitors spent upwards $100 million. investigators say gang rape happened near sparkman's restaurant. >> i'm trying to protect panama city beach's reputation whatever that takes, okay? i do benefit economically from spring break, but we cannot tolerate this kind of business. >> late in the season lawmakers passed ordinances aimed at curbing the partying. just the start of a crackdown one county lawmaker says must come. >> a will to change that. >> there is a will to change it. we're going to make spring break smaller. >> he's pushing for a rash of alcohol and crowd-related ordinances he hopes could deter many from even coming at all. >> there's just a tragedy element found. >> reporter: it could mean a financial hit for the local economy. for many after this year it seems worth the price. >> so deb, when you hear people calling important more ordinances how do you enforce ordinances. the sheriff's department said they cannot police the crowd at this size. they do

we talked to the owner of his club, sparky sparkman. this is part two of the interview. >> are you going to let me answer it this time, mr. hannity? collegiate spring break in 2014. you came after it had ended. you did your thing -- >> that's a lie. we weren't filming grandmothers. we were filming kids in bikinis, funneling beer, watching cops arrest drug dealers that were selling drugs to kids. and you went before the council and you went to the media and attacked us. now seven kids are shot, 11 sexual assaults and you're still making your money, aren't you, sparky? >> mr. hannity, who is lying here? you accused me of lying. what am i lying about? >> i'm just saying, we covered spring break. young kids -- >> what am i lying about mr. hannity? what am i lying about? how am i lying? you came in after collegiate spring break. >> we weren't filming grandmothers, we were filming kids from schools for spring break. how much money do you make in a night during spring break? >> you were filming primarily high school kids. >> how much do you ma

sparky sparkman who owns the spin acker says most spring breakers aren't troublemakers but he worriesbout those who are. >> if you come here with the idea of doing that and causing problems, we're going to come after you and we're going to put you away from a long time. >> the sheriff did not release any more information about the two other men want for the gang rape. as for the two arrested calhoun is out on bond. martesety remains in custody. gayle? >>> this morping twoning two maryland children are with their parents again. their children ages 6 and 10 were playing alone in a park yesterday. chip reid shows us how this is the third time the parents have come under fire for letting their children walk around unsupervised. >> i can't believe we're going through this again. >> reporter: the police picked up the 6-year-old and 10-year-old from the park near their silver spring home around 5:00. someone had called 911 after seeing them alone. >> the policeman said i'm going bring you home. instead he bring us here. >> reporter: montgomery county police brought them to protective service

attracts some 300,000 partiers who shell out millions of dollars -- money business owners like sparky sparkmanre are some residents in this community that think we don't need the spring breakers. what do you say to those folks? >> i don't want to find out and i don't think they want to find out, either. >> reporter: the city council next month could vote on more changes, including whether to ban drinking here on the beach year round. the mayor says all options are on the table and, jose right now local officials are trying to strike a balance between business and public safety. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you very much. >>> now to massachusetts where aaron hernandez is beginning his life sentence behind bars, a day after he was convicted of first degree murder. the former nfl star has been transferred to a maximum security prison a few miles from gillette stadium where he once played for the new england patriots with a $40 million contract. nbc's ron mott is live outside the prison in south walpole, massachusetts. ron, good morning. >> reporter: jose, good morning to you. it's a far cry from here

attracts some 300,000 partiers who shell out millions of dollars -- money business owners like sparky sparkmanere's some residents in this community who think, we don't need spring breakers. what do you say to those folks? >> i don't want to find out and i don't think they want to find out, either. >> reporter: the city council could vote on more changes next month, including banning alcohol on the beach year round. the mayor says all options are on the table and, joe and mika the big question right now is what can local officials do when they're trying to strike this delicate balance between business and safety? back to you. >> than has been a problem for a long time. gabe, thank you so much. nbc's gabe gutierrez, we appreciate it. john asked me if this was my district. it was. it's always been the hard charging place for college students to come down but it's gotten worse and worse and worse every year and it does at the end, willie, you said you're down there 20 years ago, 30 years ago, whatever and it was pretty rough back then but, man, at some point you have to say the money's not worth