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Chattanooga: Audience applauds beer board

By: Jacqueline Koch
(Contact)

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Beer Board Meeting

East Chattanooga residents stood and cheered Thursday as members of the Chattanooga Beer and Wrecker Board unanimously voted to immediately revoke the beer license of the 2301 Club on Milne Street.

“If it is bringing in or encouraging negative activity, we want it out,” said James Moreland, chairman of the Eastside Weed and Seed steering committee. “It should operate in such a way that it does not bring negativity to our families.”

The Weed and Seed federal grant program attempts to weed out crime in neighborhoods.

At a beer board meeting Thursday, Chattanooga police officers testified that they have responded to numerous violent incidents such as assaults, robberies and shootings that occurred or originated in the club.

The July 3 shooting death of Jacquard Petty began as a fight inside the club over women, said Chattanooga Police Department Sgt. Craig Joel, a midnight shift supervisor for the area in which the club exists.

“This was the bulk of our problems at night,” he said of the club. “It created such an environment conducive to crime — violent crime — right next to an old folks’ home, next to houses. It was our No. 1 priority.”

The club can keep its liquor license — separate from its beer license — but all beer board minutes are passed on to the Alcoholic Beverage Commission in Nashville, which can suspend or revoke liquor licenses based on violations discovered during meetings.

Club owner Charles Stearns, a former Chattanooga police officer, and his attorney Bill Pemberton told the beer board that the club unfairly was targeted and that the events occurred around the building, not in it.

“One incident made us look worse than we are,” Mr. Stearns said, adding that he has adequate security and metal detectors. “We are not just an OK Corral-type establishment.”

The pair filed a petition in Hamilton County Chancery Court on Thursday afternoon asking that the beer board’s decision be suspended until a trial and/or reversed because it causes “irreparable harm” to Mr. Stearns.

RECENT INCIDENTS

* April 19 — Three men told police they were robbed at gunpoint by two men on the 2301 Club’s patio.

* July 3 — Jacquard Petty was shot and killed in the 2200 block of Milne Street. He had gotten into a fight inside the club with another man over women. Carltrovous Moore has been charged in connection with the incident.

* Sept. 28 — An officer was punched in the chin across the street from the club, and those involved told police they’d been at the club.

* Oct. 4 — Brandon Bodin approached an officer and told her he’d been robbed and assaulted after leaving the club.

* Oct. 12 — Police found one man shot inside the club and two more shot outside about 3 a.m. Michael Owens was charged with attempted first-degree murder, felony reckless endangerment and aggravated assault in connection with the incident.

Source: Chattanooga Police Department incident reports

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