EAST SPENCER — Although officials with the town of East Spencer and the local Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission warned against giving JR’s Night Hawk permission to sell beer, the town still ultimately signed an opinion form saying the establishment should be granted a temporary ABC permit.
Ray Shuler, chief of ABC law enforcement for Rowan County, said the town “signed off” on a 001 Local Government Opinion form submitted to the state ABC Commission before the temporary permit was issued Feb. 20.
Mayor Erma Jefferies said this morning the town had no legal alternative — the business met all of zoning requirements. She signed off on the form, but town officials included a strong statement of opposition.
Jefferies said she was surprised when she learned that owner James Theron Lloyd had received a permit.
Fighting, which included shots being fired and an East Spencer police officer’s use of pepper spray, broke out in the restaurant’s parking lot about 3 a.m. Saturday.
A Salisbury police officer responding to East Spencer Police Officer Vince Kotarsky’s call for help struck and killed a woman with his patrol car on South Long Street about a block from JR’s Night Hawk.
In the opinion form, Shuler said his office detailed an “extremely lengthy call history” to the Lloyd’s location that included undercover narcotics buys. It concluded that a beer permit would be a detriment to the community.
Lloyd’s Grocery and the restaurant, which formerly operated as the Red Light Health Club, share the same parking lot.
“It’s all in who you ask whose parking lot it is,” Shuler said. “It’s all the same location.”
Shuler acknowledged that East Spencer included a statement expressing its concerns. Each town receives a 001 opinion form as part of the permit process.
The State ABC Commission could consider an emergency revocation of JR’s temporary beer permit. Shuler said late this morning that some action could be taken by the end of the day.
Doyle Alley, assistant administrator with the state ABC office, oversees the issuance of all permits.
Alley said this morning he had not received a report from any law enforcement agency about Saturday’s incident in East Spencer.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if I get a call from a police chief on this,” he added.
Alley said increased acts of violence at establishments with ABC permits is “a troubling thing we’ve seen.”
If Alley does receive a report on Saturday’s incident, it depends on what he reads as to whether he’ll move to revoke the temporary permit, he said.
Alley said he has three options: do nothing; take away the temporary permit but make no final decision on the application for a permanent permit; or reject the application outright.
Alley said he would look at the incident in light of whether the applicant or his employees failed to do the proper thing to prevent violence on the premises.
Jefferies has called at meeting of the Board of Aldermen for 6 p.m. Thursday to discuss the incident. Alderman Titus King called Jefferies about 1 a.m. Saturday about a large crowd in the parking lot, and Jefferies called Kotarsky to check it out.
“Right now, we’re going to have to accelerate” efforts to have the restaurant’s beer permit revoked, Jefferies said.
Town officials, including Jefferies, King and Alderwoman Deloris High, routinely drove by JR’s Night Hawk to monitor the crowds, Jefferies said. The town also had been documenting any incidents at the restaurant, which has seen at least two fights since receiving its temporary permit in February to sell beer, Jefferies said.
“We’re just trying to work through this process,” she added. “We need to do something.”
Jefferies said she had written a letter to Lloyd about all the calls East Spencer Police had received about loitering and other incidents.
During the 90-day period in which an establishment has a temporary permit, Alcohol Law Enforcement agents conduct background checks and compile any criminal investigation information. An entire package of information is then prepared for the state ABC Commission.
Only the state ABC office has the authority to issue, deny or revoke a permit.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263 or mwineka@salisburypost.com
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