THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 24, 1996 TAG: 9602240322
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
The General Assembly won't ban a controversial Brew-Thru store that has been proposed for the Virginia Beach oceanfront, at least not this year.
A Senate committee on Friday voted not to consider a ban of the drive-through convenience stores, which sell beer and wine, until 1997. The move means a store planned for 29th Street and Pacific Avenue can open in May.
But owners of the store, which pricked the ire of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, still need ABC approval for a license. And opponents promise to fight on.
``I don't think they can get an ABC license, myself,'' said Del. Glenn R. Croshaw, the Virginia Beach Democrat who had hoped the legislature would ban drive-through beer and wine sales. The Virginia Beach City Council and police oppose the stores, Croshawnoted.
The store's owners will argue their case before the ABC Board March 13 in Chesapeake. There is no guarantee the license will be approved, though the board already has ruled such operations legal.
``Once the Senate was educated on the merits of our operation, they realized that opposition was not valid,'' said George Hazzis, one of the proposed store's owners.
Unlike their counterparts on the Outer Banks, Virginia Beach Brew-Thru and Breeze-Thru stores would not be typical drive-through operations. State liquor laws prohibit selling alcohol to someone operating a vehicle, so customers would have to get out of their cars to make purchases.
Hazzis and the other Hampton Roads investors said they want to open as many as 50 stores in the next five years, many of them in Hampton Roads.
The Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services voted 9-6 to delay consideration of the ban until 1997. Two Hampton Roads senators, Sen. Yvonne B. Miller, D-Norfolk, and Sen. Edward L. Schrock, R-Virginia Beach, supported the move.
Senate passes two tobacco bills.
Minors who want to buy cigarettes will have to get sneakier, if the General Assembly has its way.
The Senate voted 28-10 on Friday to require a driver's license or other photo identification from young-looking people buying cigarettes and other tobacco products.
Merchants, however, don't have to ask for identification if the person requesting cigarettes is obviously not under 18.
Retailers in violation could face up to a $100 penalty for first-time offenses.
A second House bill, which also passed Friday, requires that cigarette vending machines be placed at least 10 feet from public entrances and in plain sight of the merchant. If the machines aren't under watchful eye, they must accept tokens instead of cash. That way, retailers can eyeball potential purchasers when they buy tokens.
Vote on family courts bill postponed.
The Senate delayed voting on a family-courts bill until Monday.
The life-support bill, sponsored by Del. James F. Almand, D-Arlington, keeps the issue alive until the next session. Two meatier bills, which would have funded the new family courts system, didn't make it.
The sticking point was how to fund the new court system. Almand and Sen. Joseph V. Gartlan Jr., D-Fairfax, suggested tacking on $4 to the filing fees at district courts. Critics worried that the extra cost would keep some people from filing small claims and that localities would take on too many costs.
Almand's legislation merely delays the issue of family courts until the next session. If the bills pass then, the court system might begin operating in 1988.
The bills would consolidate all domestic cases - everything from divorce to child abuse - into one court system. ILLUSTRATION: VP map
Proposed Brew-Thru location
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY by CNB