Raleigh Resident Fights C-Store Alcohol Sales
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Two convenience store operators in Raleigh, N.C., hope to get permanent alcohol permits despite efforts of a community leader to block them, according to a news report.
Owners of the Variety Pickup #9 and S&S Mart are working with the North Carolina Alcohol and Beverage Commission to secure the permits, but Octavia Rainey, president of the North Central Neighborhood Association doesn't want c-stores near homes to sell alcohol.
"We have problems with [the stores] being open past 8 p.m.," she told NBC 17 news. "We have problems with littering and loitering; we have problems with the alcohol, we have problems with youth gathering and we have problems with violence."
Variety Pickup #9 has won a temporary permit, but its owner must go to court to get a permanent permit, because of several arrests in front of the store when it sold beer under different ownership. The S&S Mart, according to ABC agents, has "a cleaner record."
"I keep this place clean all the time," said S&S Mart Joe Jabir. "I don't let anyone hang around."
Jabir told NBC 17 selling alcohol is not a problem. "We have beer. You drink beer. I drink beer and Octavia Rainey drinks beer, maybe. If they don't buy it here, they're going to buy it somewhere else."
Rainey wants Gov. Mike Easely to sign new laws refusing alcohol permits in low-income residential neighborhoods.
"I would like to see him looking at neighborhoods across the state of North Carolina that are depressed, where this industry is growing by leaps and bounds," she said. "He needs to come up with some rules and regulations that will strengthen our neighborhoods."
Owners of the Variety Pickup #9 and S&S Mart are working with the North Carolina Alcohol and Beverage Commission to secure the permits, but Octavia Rainey, president of the North Central Neighborhood Association doesn't want c-stores near homes to sell alcohol.
"We have problems with [the stores] being open past 8 p.m.," she told NBC 17 news. "We have problems with littering and loitering; we have problems with the alcohol, we have problems with youth gathering and we have problems with violence."
Variety Pickup #9 has won a temporary permit, but its owner must go to court to get a permanent permit, because of several arrests in front of the store when it sold beer under different ownership. The S&S Mart, according to ABC agents, has "a cleaner record."
"I keep this place clean all the time," said S&S Mart Joe Jabir. "I don't let anyone hang around."
Jabir told NBC 17 selling alcohol is not a problem. "We have beer. You drink beer. I drink beer and Octavia Rainey drinks beer, maybe. If they don't buy it here, they're going to buy it somewhere else."
Rainey wants Gov. Mike Easely to sign new laws refusing alcohol permits in low-income residential neighborhoods.
"I would like to see him looking at neighborhoods across the state of North Carolina that are depressed, where this industry is growing by leaps and bounds," she said. "He needs to come up with some rules and regulations that will strengthen our neighborhoods."