ACC Suspends Liquor License For Alley And Prickly Pear Until End Of Year
Hearings were held at Monday’s Alcohol Control Commission, for the Improper Obtaining of Distilled Spirits by both The Prickly Pear, 333 Broad Street, as well as The Alley Sports Grill, 325 Broad Street, both licenses held by Doug Pedrick.
Special Agent Nathan Burnham, of the Georgia Department of Revenue, ATF Division, gave testimony that City Clerk, Joe Smith, had notified him earlier this year, that neither business had reported alcohol sales during the previous six months. When asked to provide the alcohol invoices and receipts, Mr. Pedrick was not able to provide any, and eventually admitted to Officer Burnham that he had been transporting alcohol from an establishment he owned in Cartersville, also called The Alley.
He was charged with these violations of the State Liquor Code, as wells as failure to notify the Department for a two day suspension of his license earlier in February of this year.
A State hearing was held on July 27, in which Mr. Pedrick entered a No Contest on all three citations. Officer Burnham advised the ACC that the penalty, which has not been applied yet, is usually a monetary penalty, but can be as harsh as suspension.
Joe Smith, City Clerk, spoke briefly about what the problems a city encounters when a licensee fails to proper report alcohol sales. First and foremost, he pointed out, are the facts that the City of Rome has to abide by State laws in regulating alcohol, and this presented a problem State Law Violation as well as City Ordinance violation.
Additionally, Pouring Licenses are Volume Based, and by not reporting alcohol purchase and sales, Mr. Pedrick was cheating the system. Furthermore, because distributors pay an excise tax to a municipality for the alcohol sold to an establishment, the City of Cartersville was getting the tax revenues rightfully due the City of Rome.
Finally, not reporting alcohol complicates the auditing and regulation of Food-Drink ratios, or Mixed Drink Tax.
Michael Prieto appeared as counsel for Doug Pedrick, and explained that Mr. Pedrick was legally purchasing the alcohol in Cartersville, from a legal distributor, but simply neglected to transfer it properly. After a thorough grilling by the ACC, Mr. Prieto emphasized that his client was admitting there was a violation, and that he was willing to take full responsibility for the violation.
Several Commissioners asked specifically if Mr. Pedrick willfully violated the law. Commissioner Kim Canada, Chairman of the ACC, underscored this point, and told Mr. Pedrick and Mr. Prieto that he would like a direct answer to the question. Mr. Prieto answered for his client, admitting that his client knew that what he was doing was wrong.
City Manager John Bennett raised the issue about whether Mr. Pedrick was co-mingling funds between the business. (The entity in Cartersville is also called The Alley).
But Mr. Pedrick was able to testify that when a situation occurred when alcohol which was supposed to go to Rome, could not be delivered to Rome, the distributor would strike through the invoice, and assign the delivery/sales to the Cartersville store.
Mr. Smith asked if this same situation was going to be discovered if he looked at the wine sales, or beer sales, and Mr. Pedrick assured then Commission that there was no problem with Beer Sales.
Finally, Mr. Prieto reminded the Commission that more than thirty employees are dependant on the two establishments for their lively hood.
At the end of the hearing, the Commission discussed means to verify how much tax is due to the City of Rome through excise tax, and pouring license adjustment. The ACC unanimously passed a motion to revoke the liquor and wine pouring Pricy for the remainder of the 2007 year, but the beer pouring license was left intact. However, the final disposition will be decided by the City Commission on Tuesday, September 4, 2007.
When Mr. Pedrick was asked if he would be able to continue to operate with the loss of the liquor and wine sales, he confirmed that both establishments would be fine. When asked what percentage of sales came from wine and liquor, he thought, and answered, “About 20%”.
Courtesy: RomeNewsByWatson.com
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