Liquor resolution gets no response from Wartrace board

Joe Peters, center, addresses the Wartrace Board of Mayor and Aldermen from his seat due to a recent knee injury. Peters' request for assistance in obtaining a license to sell liquor by the drink died for a lack of a motion from the board.
(T-G Photo by Mary Reeves)

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"It is legal to 'brown bag it' in Wartrace," said Mayor Don Gallagher. "It's not legal to sell liquor by the drink. The only way to legalize liquor by the drink is by a referendum and to have a referendum you have to have 1,000 voters. Obviously, we can't do that."

However, Gallagher told the board, a special exception could be made for an individual building through the state legislature -- but only if the legislature received a resolution from the town recommending the establishment for liquor by the drink sales.

It was that resolution that Walking Horse Hotel owner Joe Peters came to the board and requested.

"As the owner of the Walking Horse, let me tell you -- I don't drink. I don't smoke. I don't do drugs," said Peters. "But if I prohibit brown-bagging it, I could lose 85 percent of my customers."

Liability was as much of an issue as profit, he said.

"The reality is, we've got people coming into the hotel and they're bringing in alcohol. They're coming to the music fest and they're bringing in alcohol. They're coming into the restaurant and they're bringing in alcohol," Peters said. "If we have the ability to sell liquor by the drink, we have the ability to control it."

Peters said he has often seen diners come in with five or six bottles of wine or liquor at the table and has worried.

"We could be liable. Once they get out there, the town could be liable, too," he said.

With brown-bagging, he added, no one benefits; not the restaurant, not the town, and not other local businesses.

"It's my intention to market (the Walking Horse) as a destination hotel. This is a great town and we want to market the town as a destination," Peters told the board.

He said he has had queries from across the state, across the country, and even from interested international tourists.

"If they know they're going to have to go out of town to get alcohol, they aren't going to come," he said. "If they're going to be doing it regardless, it makes sense to have some way to control it."

Peters, who bought the hotel last year as a way to memorialize his late wife, who loved the building, has already invested about $1 million of his own money in renovations and isn't through yet. But the recent bank crisis struck home.

"I'd been approved for an $850,000 small business loan, but when I went to the bank, they said they weren't making any more small businesses loans," said Peters. "I got slapped hard."

He said offering liquor by the drink would increase business everywhere in town, as well as encourage new businesses and possible new residents. He already plans to package the hotel with other area activities, including canoeing and horseback riding, but the liquor issue could be a real handicap.

`"I'm asking for the opportunity to compete in a very, very aggressive market."

Peters said he realized he was asking the town to do something it had not done before.

"Jim Tracy told me he would never consider this if it wasn't the Walking Horse Hotel," said Peters.

The special exception would not "segue to where you would have lots of taverns and beer bars," he said. "The board would have control."

Peters said he has turned down five offers to buy his home in Christiana because he was concerned about who would be moving in next to his neighbors there.

"You're my neighbors now," he said, offering the same concern.

Gallagher said the special exception would apply to the Walking Horse Hotel as a building and would be transferred with ownership. He said he did not know if the board could take away the license once it was granted.

Bill Swartz spoke up in favor of the plan.

"We don't want to shackle a person who wants to open a business here," he said.

Swartz said he had spoken with several residents who told him it was a good idea but would never happen because "nothing ever changes in Wartrace." He also said he had spoken with a well known restaurant owner in Nashville who doubted the hotel's success without liquor by the drink.

Gallagher presented the situation to the board, advising them the different ways they could proceed, either making a motion to pass the resolution, seconding it, and opening it up for discussion; letting it die for the lack of a second; or letting it die for the lack of an initial motion.

After commending Peters for the work he has done in restoring the historic building, Gallagher said, "They want to do the very best for you, but they want to do the very best for the community at large, too."

The board made no response. After a minute or two, Gallagher again asked the board if there was a motion to pass the resolution. Again, the board was silent. Gallagher announced the matter dead to lack of a motion. When Peters tried to speak again, Gallagher told him the matter was closed.

"I'm very disappointed," said Swartz. "Not even a motion."