Red Dog’s owner Charlie Maultsby said he anticipates “a bunch of red tape” when his permit application to serve alcoholic beverages is reviewed by the Wrightsville Beach Board of Aldermen Nov. 12. It’s unclear how much power the board has to hinder his operations.
Maultsby needs a new permit from the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Commission because the bar’s ownership has changed slightly since he first applied for a permit decades ago. Without an up-to-date permit, he can’t serve alcohol at the downtown Wrightsville Beach bar that operates as a private club.
While permits are issued by the ABC commission, the commission seeks input from local governing bodies that better understand the community, ABC commission public affairs director Agnes Stevens said. The commission also takes into account the reputation, character and criminal record of the applicant, the number of places already holding ABC permits within the neighborhood, parking, traffic, zoning laws and the establishment’s proximity to churches or schools.
North Carolina Department of Public Safety records show that Maultsby was convicted of possession of a schedule 2 drug in 2002. He was given a suspended sentence and his ABC permits have been renewed after that incident.
His ABC permit for Red Dog’s, filed under the corporate name of Entertainment Group Inc., also names Francis Peter Fensel, Joseph Wright Holeman and James Edward Wallace as owners. Holeman died in June 2011.
Not all ABC permit applications are brought before the board of aldermen, town manager Tim Owens said. Town staff signs off on applications that don’t require debate or discussion.
But in certain cases, the town wants some measure of control over the issuance of ABC permits, because once issued, ABC permits trump town ordinances. So even though private clubs are not allowed in the town’s commercial district, a business can operate as one if it receives the right ABC permit, and several establishments around town are doing just that.
The town took Red Dog’s to court over the matter in 2000, but lost because the judge confirmed Red Dog’s ABC permit superseded the town’s zoning laws. A 2001 affidavit by Wrightsville Beach police Lt. L. Narramore argued the extra police needed to monitor Wrightsville’s downtown bar patrons cost the town thousands of dollars, and still residents experienced noise and property damage.
It’s an issue still present today, as evidenced by the list of bar-related incidents from January 2011 to October 2015 compiled by police chief Dan House. Red Dog’s patrons were cited for 27 different code violations, human waste citations being the most common.
Maultsby said fights break out in front of his bar at 2 a.m. because of its proximity to Vito’s Pizza, where bar patrons converge at closing time. And he said just because someone emerges drunk and disorderly from Red Dog’s doesn’t mean that patron was over-served there.
“They always try to blame it on me,” Maultsby said. “It’s just typical. The last bar he came out of, so obviously he had to get drunk there.”
He is prepared to endure plenty of pushback from town leaders Thursday night but ultimately it is the ABC commission’s opinion that counts, he said. In 40 years, he said he has only received two violations from that entity, both for admitting a nonmember.
“The state has their rules, and they’re required to consider what the town says,” he said. “But no, I do not need the town’s permission.”
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