by Dana Wilbourn
posted July 17, 2008
Residents from neighborhoods surrounding the proposed Millennium Dining & Entertainment club at 3659 Brainerd Road appeared before the Chattanooga Beer Board on Thursday to ask the board to deny the owners a beer license. The owners of the proposed club were not present and had not notified the board that they would not be present.
Board Chairman Kathy Jones said this was the second meeting these residents had shown up for and the applicant did not show. She said she wanted to hear their side today so they would not have to keep coming in hopes that the applicant shows. She assured them their comments would be considered whenever the board votes.
Capt. Randy Dunn with the Chattanooga Police Department said he had met with the presumed owner, Billy Patrick, several times and was told different stories about what type club Millenium would be. Capt. Dunn said at various times he had been told by Mr. Patrick that it would be a VIP lounge, a teen club, a college club, or an adult club. He felt that Mr. Patrick was just trying to pick what type club might get by the Beer Board.
Officer John Collins said that the club had not passed any of the required building and fire department inspections.
Capt. Dunn said the proposed club is a recipe for disaster. He said he learned that the application for the beer license was in the name of Paul Edward Gott whom he had never met. He also learned that Mr. Patrick, who he assumed was the owner, has a felony conviction and several drug indictments and cannot obtain a beer license for those reasons. “It appears to me,” he said, “they are continuously trying to go around the end to try to get this business licensed and opened.”
Brainerd residents Bill Butler, Jackie Marlin and Tawnya Fogarty were given three minutes each to speak to the board. Mr. Butler asked the board to help defend the neighborhood saying, “We’ve worked hard (to keep the neighborhood safe) and will continue to do so.” Ms. Marlin said her concern is for the safety of the children and she also worries about gang activity. Ms. Fogarty said she hopes that this area might turn into an area like Frazier Avenue in North Chattanooga and begged the board not to approve the license.
Board member Charline Kilpatrick said that she had become aware of a day care center in the vicinity that stays open as late as 11:30 p.m. and she now worries about the safety of those children if this club is allowed to open and be licensed to sell beer.
J. Fredrick Weinhold, also a board member, said according to the beer ordinance, no one with a felony conviction can have ties to the establishment if a beer license is approved. In other words, he said, it is not just the applicant that cannot be a felon.
Off. Collins said he has met with Mr. Patrick and Mr. Gott and they are in fact cousins. He agreed with Capt. Dunn that “red flags” keep popping up whenever he talks with these two.
Board member Phillip Sallee made a motion that the board deny the application for a license based on what was said by the witnesses and the fact that the owner/applicant did not bother to show up or call to be taken off the agenda. The motion was seconded, but failed on a roll call vote.
Another motion was made to table the application until the owner/applicant appears before the board. That motion carried.
In other action, Sgt. Mark Haskins, CPD, told the board that a proposed re-write of the wrecker ordinance is moving slowly and the problem centers on the “rotator question.”
The current ordinance requires a rotator type wrecker for recovery class accidents. A rotator type wrecker can park parallel to traffic and rotate to the side to recover a wrecked truck. Class-C type wreckers without a rotator boom must park perpendicular to traffic (thus blocking traffic) to perform a recovery operation. A recovery class accident typically involves an 18-wheeler that has overturned.
TDOT official Bob Van Horn addressed the board and said TDOT supports the ordinance as written (requiring a rotator class wrecker.) Traffic blocked by Class-C wreckers in recovery operations wastes gas and increases pollution, he said. He volunteered to bring videos to show how both type recovery operations work.
Mr. Van Horn also said that secondary accidents (accidents caused by stopped traffic) are often more severe and nearly 20% of them involve fatalities.
Shannon Yates, representing Yates Towing, spoke to the board and said it comes down to an issue of fairness to the wrecker companies.
Board Chairman Kathy Jones said the board will review the most recent draft of the ordinance and will schedule TDOT to show their videos at the Aug. 21 meeting.
There were no beer license violations before the board.
Applicants approved for a consumer or carry-out license were:
Melanie Elizabeth Brooks (Consumer)
Melanie’s
3116 Brainerd Rd.
Ronald A. Houser (Consumer/Carry-out)
Texas Roadhouse Holdings, LLC (change of ownership)
7016 Shallowford Rd.
Victoria Ann Sapp (Consumer)
Z Wooden Nickel
526 E. M.L. King Blvd.
Joe Fidelibus (Consumer)
Doubletree Hotel (change of name)
407 Chestnut St.
Special event licenses were approved for:
Noel Omar
Vespa Club of America
Walnut Street Bridge
300 Walnut Ave.
July 24, 2008 6 p.m to 10 p.m.
Don Calvin Baker
Friends of the Festival
Riverfront Nights
Ross’s Landing
Aug. 2, 9, 16
Sept. 6, 13, 20, 27
Dana Wilbourn
dbwilbourn@yahoo.com
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