By ANDY GARDNER
North Country Now

CANTON -- Hot Tamale on Main Street has closed, the fourth restaurant owned by Marc Morley to recently shut down.

At dinnertime on Friday night, the Canton store was shut down with no lights on and a “Sorry we’re closed” sign on the door.

WWNY is reporting they are out of business.

Morley owns Hot Tamale among his half a dozen North Country eateries. In addition to that, he has closed Hot Tamale/Chix n Pies in Massena and Ogdensburg and Between the Buns/Club 21 in Potsdam.

Former employees of the restaurants that suddenly closed are speaking out against their former employer and say working there caused financial problems in their lives.

Ron Greenleaf of Massena, who used to cook at Chix n Pies in his hometown, says he is facing eviction because turned out to be his final paycheck won’t clear.

“I still have a check I can’t cash,” he said Dec. 27. He said the check is dated Dec. 14 for the Dec. 3 to 9 pay period.

Greenleaf said most banks in town won’t accept checks from Morley’s restaurant, except for Key Bank.

“No other bank in town will even look at them,” Greenleaf said. “I might even be looking at eviction.”

Cody Dominique of Norwood worked at Potsdam’s Hot Tamale roughly until the middle of this year. He says he is in debt $350 to a checking agency for a bad check fee because there were insufficient funds to cover one of his paychecks from Morley.

Morley could not be reached for comment. His cell phone was turned off and an automated message said the mailbox is full.

In a Thursday phone interview, he said they were running out of money and unable to operate, and added that he intends to make up back pay for all of his employees.

See earlier story for more details.