Local Licensing Authority Minutes 1999 08 30

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Withdrawal of Application/Approval- D.Myers, L.L.C. d/b/a RedStone Brewery & Grill - Brew Pub License - 816 Main Street. Mr. Light reported that Michael Bynum, Attorney for the applicant, D. Myers, LLC, d/b/a RedStone Brewery & Grill - Brew Pub License - 816 Main Street, filed a letter to the Authority, withdrawing the Liquor License Application. Mr. Bynum stated that the applicant was unable to proceed with the project due to rising costs. Mr. Light noted that the condition of prior approval therefore had not been fulfilled, and the approval should be revoked. POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT A. Disturbance at Druid Arms Tavern. Chairperson Jeffers stated that he would recuse himself from any discussion or action on this matter, due to personal friendship with some members of the family involved in this disturbance. By excluding Chairperson Jeffers, the Authority was without a ..quorum. Therefore there was no further discussion, and Sergeant Riggins asked City Attorney Light for his interpretation of probable cause for State Liquor Code violations, specifically the threshold that should be used to issue Show Cause Orders for allegedly serving visibly and apparently intoxicated persons. He felt in some of the cases, a number of people may disagree on what constitutes probable cause. City Attorney Light stated that the prosecutor must determine whether the evidence is sufficient to prosecute a Show Cause Order. However, the initial determination the Authority must make is that there must be probable cause, most often based on the facts alleged in the police report, regardless of whether they ultimately are true and can be proven. The prosecutor may believe that there must be testimony from an independent third party that at the time the sale a customer was visibly intoxicated. This type of testimony may not be available. According to Light, visibly intoxicated means a person is conspicuously intoxicated. Apparently intoxicated means that by behavior or belief, a person is intoxicated. Light stated that prosecuting attorneys have voiced similar frustrations in dealing with two statutes and a liquor regulation. The first states "it is unlawful to sell to a visibly intoxicated person." The second states "it is unlawful for a licensee to sell, serve, give away, dispose of, exchange or delivery or permit any of those things to a visibly intoxicated person". The liquor regulation states "the licensee cannot permit any serving or loitering of an apparently intoxicated person". There is some inclination to believe that a third party must be able to testify that at the time of sale, they saw a visibly intoxicated person being served. However, the Authority must assess the value of any evidence in a hearing that comes to it. Most often, a judicial body will defer to a prosecutor's request for dismissal based on a lack of evidence.