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Health & Fitness

County Attorney's Change Of View Precedes Oconee County Commissioners' Vote To Approve Beer And Wine License For Theater

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners last week voted to approve the beer and wine license for University 16 Cinema after the theater owner scaled back the request.

The Oconee County Board of Commissioners last week voted to approve the beer and wine license for University 16 Cinema after the theater owner scaled back from three to one the number of auditoriums in which food and alcohol would be sold.

That change led County Attorney Daniel Haygood to drop his opposition to the request and conclude that a restaurant that includes a theater does not necessarily violate the county’s definition of a restaurant as spelled out in the beer and wine ordinance.

Frank Bishop, developer of the $76 million Epps Bridge Centre, where the theater is located, lobbied hard for the beer and wine license, even showing up at the Tuesday night meeting to ask commissioners to approve the request.

Commissioners Margaret Hale and Jim Luke both expressed concerns about the request by Georgia Theatre Company for the beer and wine license but joined with Commissioner Mark Saxon to approve the permit. The theater is scheduled to open June 14.

Commissioner John Daniell chaired the meeting in the absence of vacationing BOC Chairman Melvin Davis, and Daniell did not vote on the license request.

County Administrative Officer Jeff Benko told the Board before it voted that the county has never audited any restaurant to determine that it met a key portion of the beer and wine ordinance requiring restaurants to derive at least 75 percent of their gross income from food rather than alcohol sales.

For more on this story, go to Oconee County Observations.

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