Newspaper Page Text
Booze Laws
Resolved, For Now
Following months of discussions, changes
and postponements, Athens-Clarke County (ACC)
Commissioners passed a revised alcohol ordi
nance Sept. 4 covering all package and drink
sales in the county. The old ordinance was a
patchwork of amendments that needed to be
brought into line with state law. It had nothing
to say about "brown-bagging," which meant unli
censed "bottle houses" were legal, and loopholes
allowed scofflaw bars to re-open even if their
license had been pulled. None of those changes
were controversial with bar owners and employ
ees, but others were. Some two dozen showed up
to make three-minute speeches to commissioners
before the vote.
Mostly, bar personnel didn't like the new
provision requiring doorpersons to be at least 21
years old. That will make it harder to fill those
positions, bar owners said. "People who are near
ing graduation, or simply older in years, are no
longer interested in working these particular
jobs," said bar owner Chris Pierce. "Otherwise, at
the end of their tenure, the phrase 'getting a real
job' would no longer be prevalent." UGA junior
Alicia Hayes told commissioners, "I've paid for
my rent, utilities and everything that comes with
college all by myself. And bartending is the only
thing you can really do that will actually make
a significant dent in rent and utilities without
cutting into class time." Hayes is 20, so she can
keep her job because the 21-year age require
ment doesn't kick in until next July 1. After that,
no underage persons will be allowed to work as
doorpersons or serve alcohol at bars. (At restau
rants—defined as earning half or more of their
revenue from food—servers must be 18; sellers
at grocery stores can be just 16.)
"I know you've heard from the bar owners,
you've heard from the coalition members," Janet
Beckley told commissioners, referring to the
Community/Campus Coalition for the Prevention
of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse. "Here's some
of the things I've heard from the kids in rehab:
It's real easy to drink in Athens. They come from
all around the state, and they know they can get
a drink all around Athens.... Whether it's the
bartender or whether it's the gentleman at the
door, they come and they grab 'em and say, 'Hey
get out of here, the police are coming. Stay clear
for a while.'"
ACC Police Chief Jack Lumpkin, who proposed
the age requirement for doorpersons (as well as
a criminal background check that commission
ers declined to include in the ordinance), said
doormen who have been caught taking bribes
usually had some previous criminal offenses. But
to Lumpkin, it is the new ordinance's restrictions
on reorganizing businesses that will make the
most difference in enforcement. In the past, bars
might have their alcohol-serving license revoked,
and immediately reorganize and reopen with only
a slight change in ownership partners. That can't
happen under the new ordinance, which would
require a 100-percent change in ownership to get
a new license.
But, Chief Lumpkin told Flagpole, down
town bars account for only two of four failures
among the 40 bars countywide that have been
checked for underage service this calendar year.
Approximately 270 such compliance checks—
where an underaqe person working for the police
presents a legitimate ID—
have been done this year
by police at bars, package,
grocery and convenience
stores. (Convenience
stores have frequently been violators.) Police did
360 checks in 2006, 106 of those in bars, and 17
bars failed. "We're not effective at checking bars
under our current system," Lumpkin said, "be
cause of the phone tree." Bar owners immediate
ly phone each other when police start checking
bars, he said, a system he calls "really efficient"
at dodging police checks. "The word spreads, and
a lot of the behavior in establishments is differ
ent from the norm."
In commission discussion last week.
Commissioner (and attorney) Elton Dodson said
he was "thoroughly unimpressed" by two speak
ers last week who said they would sue the county
over tougher bar regulations. "I guess that's
the American way," he said. "You're more than
welcome to give your money to an attorney; they
will definitely take it." He acknowledged that
the development of the 36-page ordinance was
rushed in order to finish it before alcohol-license
renewal time, and said it was targeted to narrow
issues, and never intended to address underage
alcohol consumption. "We can debate all night
whether or not the federal government's made
the right call in allowing people to go to war at
17, but not drink until 21," he said.
Kelly Girtz also apologized for "a six-month
odyssey of fits and starts" in developing the
new ordinance, but said doorpersons have "an
important gatekeeping function" and that it's
reasonable to expect bar employees to be as
old as customers. Girtz
said he worked service
jobs "for a dozen years
before I ever had an op
portunity to put on a tie,"
and Commissioner Alice Kinman said she'd once
tended bar. Neither liked the idea of requiring
criminal background checks. Commissioner Kathy
Hoard was frustrated that bar owners didn't pres
ent a united front: "Talking with the bar industry
is like hitting a moving target," she said.
The new Athens ordinance barely passed.
Ordinances require six commission votes to be
adopted, and the compromise suggested by
Girtz—dropping background checks for doormen
and postponing the 21-year age requirement
for one year—got only five of nine votes, with
Commissioner Carl Jordan absent from the meet
ing. The original, stricter version also failed, put
ting the discussion back to square one. But then
Commissioner Kathy Hoard (a staunch supporter
of the background check provision) announced
that—out of a desire to settle the issue—she
would change her vote, and Girtz's compromise
was passed.
Still undecided is a separate proposal by
Commissioner David Lynn that has been referred
to committee for study. It would allow the com
mission to approve exemptions (one already ex
ists for the whole downtown area) to the present
requirement that restaurants that serve alcohol
must be 200 yards from a church, school or col
lege campus.
John Huie jphuie@athens.net
Homeland Security
Paying Athens a Visit
Almost two months after Athens made it onto
the short list for consideration as a site for the
proposed National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility,
or NBAF, local residents' first chance to talk
face-to-face with the Department of Homeland
Security (DHS) about the project is fast ap
proaching. On Thursday, Sept. 20, Homeland
Security will host a public "scoping" meeting in
the Mahler Auditorium at the Georgia Center for
Continuing Education.
HdoM Me
ATHENS AREA HUMANE SOCIETY’S Adoption Location is inside
Pet Supplies PIUS at the Alps Shopping Center
Nearly <0 cats were found frightened and hungry
n Athens last week. The
inside an abandoned home in ,
Athens Area Humane Society has been caring for
each of them. “Cats and kittens now in the care of
the AAHS have been vaccinated and are receiving -
perhaps for the first time in months - dean beds and
litter, fresh water, and high-quality food to replenish
their starved bodies. Our skilled and compassionate
animal caretakers will monitor each cat and kitten's
physical and emotional health every day."
Skinny but so sweet, and with a cute permanent
milk moustache, one of the socialized
Beginning Monday, September 10, these cats will be
available for adoption at a price of ONE DOLLAR -
thanks to donations from the Athens community.
Some are highly-socialized, some are not and will
need to be “barn" cats. You can change their luck for
a buck. For more information, call 706-353-CATS or
visit www.athenshumanesociety.org.
From
August 30
ACC ANIMAL
CONTROL
28 Dogs Received
18 Dogs Placed
ATHENS AREA HUMANE SOCIETY
44 Total Cats Received
10 Cats Placed
0 Adoptabie Cats Euthanized
NEW HOURS
Adoption Outreach Center (Cats)
'Monday-Friday lpm*7pm
Saturday 10-5 a Sunday 1-5
"Talking with the bar industry
is like hitting a moving target.
The same room saw UGA officials and the
Athens Grow Green Coalition host an Aug. 30
public forum to answer questions about the pro
posed facility, at which UGA Vice-President for
Research Dr. David Lee—the point person for the
consortium seeking to bring NBAF to Georgia-
encouraged citizens to ask plenty of questions of
federal officials when they visit.
Citizen concerns about NBAFs safety seem
focused less on the work of the facility than on
the agency that will be running it: Homeland
Security. Longtime Athenian and UGA supporter
Kathy Prescott has been looking online at other
communities' responses to having the NBAF
proposed for their area. "I've been looking at:
'What are other people questioning?' And I guess
it's oversight, it's transparency... and, you know,
competency, because Homeland Security doesn't
have much of a track record," Prescott says.
NBAF is designed to focus on agricultural
diseases, which include zoonotic diseases that
can pass from animals to humans (examoles are
anthrax and avian flu), but not diseases that
pass from human to human (like SARS or Ebola
virus), which will remain the focus area of the
Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
Still, because NBAF will focus on emerging dis
eases, officials are unable to provide an exact list
of pathogens to be worked on there at all points
in the future.
Lee also has stressed that NBAF will not be a
vaccine-manufacturing plant, such as may be im
plicated in the recent foot-and-mouth outbreak
tied to a lab in Pirbright, England. Vaccine mak
ers work with much larger quantities of pathogen
than research facilities do.
Specific security concerns notwithstanding,
basic questions on the table at present pertain to
citizen involvement and public confidence in the
facility, both this year and into the future if it's
built. Dr. Lee made clear at the Aug. 30 meeting
that DHS will by no means be obligated to have a
citizens' advisory council (like the one that exists
for UGA's Animal Health Research Center). "We
all wish that weren't the case," Lee said, adding
that a middle ground similar to a CDC system of
visible public outreach on particular issues might
be an attainable goal, and one for which UGA
may advocate.
As for the Sept. 20 meeting, officials will
be on hand from 6 to 7 p.m. to talk individu
ally with citizens, and the meeting will begin
at 7 p.m. with a project synopsis and informal
question-and-answer session. The public com
ment period begins at 8 p.m. in the order in
which citizens registered, and comments during
that period—kept to three minutes, ideally—will
be taken into account in the federally-required
Environmental Impact Study (EIS) process
(though questions at that point will not neces
sarily be directly answered). Registration is
by email (nbafprogrammanager@dhs.gov) or
starting at 6 p.m. at the meeting location. The
current EIS comment period closes on Sept. 28.
Information on NBAF is available online at v/ww.
uga.edu/nbaf and www.dhs.gov.
Ben Emanuel ben@l!agpole com
6 FLAGPOLE.COM • SEPTEMBER 12, 2007
NEWS & FEATURES I ARTS & EVENTS I MOVIES I MUSIC I COMICS & ADVICE I CLASSIFIEDS