ATWOOD, Tenn. — Atwood BP owner, Anas Salah’s endeavor to add beer sales at his store was dealt another disappointing blow Thursday night, July 7, when an ordinance that would’ve paved the way for them died without a single alderman willing to put their name on a motion to advance it.
There was standing-room only at city hall, in which several residents appeared to speak both for and against allowing beer sales at Atwood BP.
Among the speakers, Joe McGregor offered the most colorful presentation, which a few spectators regarded as somewhat threatening, among other things.
He pointed across the street, where Atwood BP neighbors a row of churches, including Atwood Cornerstone Church.
“We’re having vacation Bible school right now, and I’ve got grandkids over there,” he said. “I don’t want beer sold here.”
McGregor said he used to drink alcohol, and gave it up.
“It makes me crazy!” he exclaimed.
McGregor turned his attention to Mayor Fridie Algee and the Aldermen.
“Black Fridie,” he said to the Mayor, “I think a lot of you. Your daddy was a good man. [But], if you vote for this beer, your daddy’s gonna remember.”
He turned to Alderman Gerald Mauldin.
“You prayed a beautiful prayer at Veterans Day, how can you be for beer?” McGregor asked him.
“It’s gonna come back to haunt you boys,” he continued. “Grow some balls!”
McGregor then turned to Salah, said he was a good salesman, and gestured back across the street.
“That property joins right over there. If somebody comes flying through there and hits one of my great grandkids, you better know Jesus,” he told Salah, pointing at him.
McGregor kept his finger pointed and turned to the Aldermen.
“Every one of you,” he added.
He wasn’t finished.
McGregor warned that beer sales would lead to liquor sales, a police department, and property taxes. He reflected on his own history with alcohol, saying that if people hadn’t been praying for him, he wouldn’t be alive today.
“But [if] somebody comes across that parking lot drunk…[Alderman] Tommy [Polinski], we’re good friends; Black Fridie, me and you are good friends; I don’t know you, Gerald, but you prayed a beautiful prayer.”
He pointed at all the aldermen once more.
“Y’all got it?” he asked. Then he turned and pointed at Salah. “You got it?!”
As his time expired, McGregor made his way back to his seat, but stopped when he reached Salah. Standing over him, he raised his voice.
“You’re gonna burn your business if you get a beer license,” he shouted. “Ain’t nobody coming back in there. You’re gonna go somewhere else. You’re gonna cut your own throat.”
Jimmy Halford intervened from the audience and escorted McGregor to the back of the room.
Not all who spoke shared McGregor’s position.
Kortney Mazurek and Norris Depriest both voiced support for Salah, with Depriest noting his years of experience managing convenience stores and pointing out that he had attended churches located near beer-selling businesses without issue.
Jimmy Halford urged the board to consider what kind of town Atwood wanted to be, arguing that beer sales were not necessary for a business to succeed and used Chick-fil-A as an example of a company that thrived without compromising its principles.
During his time, Salah said, “I’m not here to promote selling beer or to tell you beer is good.”
He explained that many people in Atwood already drink beer, and they purchase it outside city limits, where the town gets no revenue.
Salah mentioned the bypass coming through town and the businesses already closing around it.
“We have already lost two businesses in Atwood before even the bypass,” Salah said. “If the city doesn’t give us something to have more revenue, this business will follow the others, and you will end up with a city without businesses.”
He also addressed the distance question, noting that under the current 300-foot ordinance, his building sits 120 feet from the church, but that if he built a separate structure 120 feet from his existing building, it would meet the requirement.
“Do you think that will give more respect to the area?” he asked the board.
When it came time for the board to act, Pemberton reminded them that even if the ordinance passed, it would require a second reading and a public hearing in August before taking effect.
After Pemberton read the ordinance, the room fell silent waiting for a motion to be made.
“Going once, going twice,” Pemberton said. “No motion, Mayor.”
The ordinance was dead, at least for July. Pemberton said it could be placed back on the agenda in August if any alderman wished to do so.
After the meeting, Salah said he respected those who opposed him on religious grounds, but felt the town needed to make a decision based on what would benefit the majority.
“Those people with faith, I won’t try to convince them to change their faith or belief,” he said. “But in a situation like what we are having now, the bypass coming, businesses closing, I think the town has to make a decision for the majority and what will benefit this town.”
Forensic Audit
With the Comptroller of the Treasury’s office having gone quiet on its earlier offer to assist the town, the board voted to hire a private forensic auditor to review the town’s finances going back five years.
Pemberton told the board the email correspondence with the Comptroller’s office had been “less than productive.”
“So if the city wants to authorize the mayor to enlist a private audit firm to do a forensic audit of the city’s finances for the last three years — or however far back the board wants to go — that will take a motion,” he said.
Alderman Randy Long made the motion to go back five years. The board approved it unanimously. Pemberton said he would begin reaching out to forensic accounting firms in the region, noting they were hard to come by.
Other Business
— The board voted unanimously to transfer a radio repeater on the town’s water tower to Carroll County.
The repeater had been out of service for more than 10 years, according to Alderman Long.
With the transfer, it will be repaired and updated by the county, and the town will retain the right to use it for fire department communications, which currently suffer from dead spots in the area..
— The board voted to give Interim City Recorder Rita Galloway a $3 per hour raise.
They also approved a bonus of $2,580, which represents the monthly pay differential between Galloway’s rate and that of former recorder Amanda Browning, who was making $31 per hour as a certified municipal finance officer.
— The board approved hiring two part-time maintenance workers.
— They also voted unanimously to extend public comment time from two minutes to five minutes per speaker, effective at the August meeting.
— Lastly, the board voted to solicit competitive bids for a commercial-grade lawnmower, in either 60-inch or 72-inch deck sizes. They will review bids at the August meeting.
Atwood’s next regular meeting is scheduled for Thursday, August 13 at 7 p.m. in City Hall.