Red Dog’s ABC permit could be renewed

By Emmy Errante

Staff Writer

After Wrightsville Beach leaders placed a roadblock in Red Dog’s owner Charlie Maultsby’s path to getting a new ABC permit in November 2015, he changed course by successfully reviving an old permit on Feb. 27 that could lead to the the license being renewed.

Maultsby was told he needed a new permit to sell alcohol last year because his bar’s ownership had changed slightly since the permit was issued decades ago. But Maultsby’s application required a town recommendation, and the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen voted Nov. 12, 2015, to recommend the ABC commission deny the permit.

How heavily the town’s recommendation would have factored into the state’s permitting process was unclear — ABC commission public affairs director Agnes Stevens said the state goes against such recommendations occasionally.

But the state investigates the claims behind the negative recommendation, and Maulstby said the process would have required him to close his bar for 10 days. He also said he was prepared to take the town to court over their claims.

Many of the late night incidents the town accused Red Dog’s of causing actually occurred outside, Maultsby said, so Red Dog’s didn’t bear any more responsibility than the other four downtown bars. The most frequent incident reported was public urination, and Maultsby said he knew at least one of those incidents occurred in the King Neptune parking lot.

“I’m like, ‘how the heck is that my fault?’” he said. “I can’t sit there and babysit people once I get them outside.”

Maultsby consulted an attorney, who advised him to renew one of his expired permits on file, a process that was more expensive but did not require input from Wrightsville Beach.

“That was a path we weren’t aware of [originally],” Maultsby said.

While he was able to renew the permit under a different corporate name, the process still involved some scrutiny.

“The ALE came in here Saturday night and looked at it, and everything seemed fine,” he said.

Maultsby and town officials have a long history of butting heads over Red Dog’s operations. The establishment’s existence as a private club violates town zoning laws, but when Wrightsville Beach took Maultsby to court over the matter in 2000, the judge determined the bar’s state-issued ABC permit trumped local laws.

Town leaders and staff have also taken issue with the amount of perceived trouble the bar causes, which requires extra police presence. In recommending denial of the bar’s ABC permit, town police compiled a list of bar-related incidents from January 2011 to October 2015. Red Dog’s patrons were cited for 27 different types of code violations.

Maultsby has owned Red Dog’s since 1975 and says he hasn’t seen an increase in downtown bar activity.

“I remember when the whole street from Red Dog’s to Lagerheads would be packed with people at the end of the night,” he said.

Red Dog’s has incurred two ABC commission violations over the decades. Maulstby said neither was a serious offense related to violence, drugs or underage drinking, but rather for admitting a nonmember.

If Red Dog’s does receive such serious violations in the future, its permit would be in jeopardy. But as long as it doesn’t, Red Dog’s will continue to operate as it always has, Maultsby said.

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