Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, August 3, 1993 TAG: 9308030193
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LON WAGNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Authorities are considering charging speedway owner Whitey Taylor with maintaining a common nuisance. The misdemeanor offense can be leveled against the owner of a place that repeatedly violates Alcoholic Beverage Control laws, said Wallace Vann, assistant special agent in charge with the Roanoke district of the ABC department.
Franklin County Sheriff W.Q. Overton said Taylor allows race-goers to drink at the track even though he knows it violates ABC laws. Overton said he would like to pressure Taylor to clean up the party scene at the speedway.
"We got complaints from a number of people at the beginning of the summer, and it got worse and worse as time went on," Overton said. "We might see if we can close him down for the time being, get him to make some changes."
Taylor was not available for comment Monday, but he told the Franklin News-Post that perhaps an occasional crackdown is necessary. He suggested, however, that authorities could send one or two officers each week instead of sending in dozens at a time on a particular night.
"We had a sell-out crowd of several thousand people," he said, "so I guess that many arrests isn't all that much."
Taylor also advised the sheriff's department its deputies could provide a more valuable service by patrolling Smith Mountain Lake, "where people are getting killed."
"They need to buy them another boat and get up there," he said.
Saturday night when 45 sheriff's deputies, ABC agents and state police converged on the 2,700 spectators at the track, the speedway's announcer warned the crowd to "Get rid of the alcohol; the police are on the way," Overton said.
Vann and Overton said the announcement suggested Taylor and those in charge of the races knew many in the crowd were violating ABC laws.
"I don't think he would have a defense of saying he did not know anyone was drinking alcohol after making the announcement," Vann said.
Fifty-six people were charged Saturday night for drinking in public, possession of marijuana and possession of alcohol by people under the legal drinking age of 21.
The ABC department earlier this summer had received several complaints about disorderly behavior, drinking in public and urinating in public at the speedway, he said. "Several officers had people come up to them and thank them for doing it," Vann said of the arrests.
Drinking alcohol is not permitted at the speedway, because Taylor doesn't have an ABC license. Vann said if Taylor had an ABC license the state would have more control over alcohol consumption at the speedway. But Virginia law stipulates that a license should not be granted if ABC laws have been habitually violated.
Michelle Westbrook, who goes to Taylor's speedway every Saturday with her husband, deemed the raid a heavy-handed approach to a minor problem.
"I think it was total harassment," Westbrook said. "We've been going over there four and a half years and I have not seen the falling-down drunks and drunks abusing people around there."
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB