PERRY UPHOLDS ITS DECISION TO NOT RENEW ALCOHOL PERMIT FOR POOL HALL

PERRY - Perry City Council upheld Thursday its earlier decision not to
renew the alcohol license for D&D Pool Hall because of alleged "drug activity."

"I think it's obvious that there's quite a bit of drug activity at that
establishment, and I don't think that's something we should tolerate in the
city of Perry," said Council member Joe Kusar at the called meeting. The
meeting served as an informal hearing on the license non-renewal.

Perry Police Chief George Potter detailed six drug or alcohol-related
arrests at the pool hall on Jernigan Street in 2002, including a
misdemeanor marijuana possession charge and conviction on license holder
Rashmi Patel.

The other arrests were made in the parking lot of the pool hall. Charges
ranged from public drunkenness to possession of methamphetamines. Three
cases have not been to court yet.

City Attorney David Walker said Patel pleaded no contest to marijuana
possession and paid a fine in Houston County State Court.

Patel also filed an affidavit in Perry Municipal Court, prior to the case's
transfer to State Court, stating that the marijuana he was smoking in the
pool hall belonged to a relative, Walker said.

Trey Moody, a Macon attorney representing Patel, told council that while he
does not condone the use of marijuana, he noted that the offense was only a
misdemeanor.

The other incidents were in the parking lot and involved customers of which
Patel has no control over, Moody said. However, Potter noted one of the
customers worked at the pool hall at the time of the arrest.

Moody also said that failure to renew Patel's license would be singling him
out. Moody alleged that the same kind of activity takes places at other
restaurants in town. But Potter said that's not the case.

Moody proposed a six-month probation for the pool hall. "You bust anybody
for anything inside the building - public drunkenness to possession - you
can take it (the license) away," Moody said.

Moody said the loss of the alcohol license will essentially mean the loss
of the business because the pool hall depends on alcohol sales.

Moody declined comment afterward. Council chose not to renew the license in
December after Potter made them aware of the alleged drug activity.

The license expired Dec. 31. However, Patel was allowed to continue serving
alcohol until the hearing.