Facing a potential lawsuit over a permit denial by the beer board, Polk County commissioners tabled any response to the threat during their regular meeting Thursday night, July 30, at the courthouse in Benton.
The commissioners called an executive session, out of public view, to discuss the matter.
When they returned, none of the commissioners discussed the particulars of the threat, but Commissioner John Pippenger said they faced three alternatives:
•Table the matter;
•Reduce the footage; or,
•Leave the footage the same.
The next day, County Executive Robby Hatcher explained the commissioners were responding to a letter from an attorney representing David Gaddis.
Gaddis purchased the old Copper Duck, located on Highway 64 about two miles east of Ducktown, when the county sold the property for back taxes.
He ten applied for a beer license, which the beer board denied, because the location is within 2,000 feet of a church. There are actually two churches within that distance, The Rock and Isabella Baptist Church.
In considering a lawsuit, Gaddis’ argument is that since the establishment once had a beer license the location should be grandfathered in and a license granted.
It was the beer board’s position that since the license had lapsed, the grandfather clause in the beer ordinance did not apply as it had to other establishments.
Before the commissioners tabled any action, Commissioner James Woody made a motion to reduce the footage in the beer ordinance to 1,000 feet, which would have solved the problem with Gaddis’ license. That motion died for lack of a second.
Woody then voted against tabling the motion, and Pippenger abstained since he is on the beer board. Voting to table were commissioners Debbie Davis, Samantha Trantham, Daniel Deal, Mark Evans, and Dewey Esquinance.
Hatcher also said the threat of Gaddis’ lawsuit has also “brought some (beer permits) up in question to question.”
One offender seems to be the Beer Bus at Adventures Unlimited just east of Shiloh Baptist Church on U.S. Highway 64 in Ocoee. The beer license is in the name of Adventures Unlimited, whose main building meets the 2,000 foot limit, but the Beer Bus is not 2,000 feet from the church.
The owner of a location on U.S. 411 that burned, but plans to rebuild, has indicated he wants to get his license back, but there has been more than a six-month lapse, which the beer ordinance says eliminated the grandfather clause.