By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – There were not enough seats to accommodate the dozen or more bar supporters who attended this week’s St. John the Baptist Parish Council meeting to protest a proposed ordinance that would ban the sale of alcohol after 2 a.m.

Standing at the back of the crowded room, bar owners, employees, patrons and convenience store employees waited quietly, diligently for an opportunity to voice their concerns.

Airline Motors Restaurant, Hammerheads Bar, local daiquiri shops, Rusty’s Pool Tavern and other local establishments were represented at the meeting. Ambience, clientele, products and prices at the businesses may vary, but the owners were united in their belief the ordinance would substantially reduce bar revenue and negatively impact parish tax revenues.

“It would knock the hell out of me,” Greg Miller, of Rusty’s Pool Tavern, told the council members, reflecting a sentiment shared by small bar owners across the parish. “People are going to go somewhere else.”

Rusty’s Pool Tavern is one of St. John Parish’s 24-hour hot spots. If the proposed ordinance is passed, only bar employees could legally be on the property between 2-6 a.m.

“I am barely getting by,” Miller said. “If I did not have (video) poker machines, I would not be in business.”

Target bad businesses, said bar and store spokespersons, not all businesses that sell alcohol. Most owners agreed they would rather see more law enforcement patrols to keep loitering and crime down and, perhaps, some penalties for bad bars, than to see business pushed out of the parish and into bars located in Metairie and New Orleans.

“I have some late night business,” Miller said. “If they cut that off, it would really hurt my bottom line.”

The ordinance was placed on the agenda two weeks ago by Councilman Dale Wolfe.

“I have received a lot of complaints from the community and the clergy,” Wolfe said.

If passed, the ordinance would prohibit the sell of alcohol between 2-6 a.m. In addition, bars that are open during those early morning hours would have to change their operating hours to meet parish regulations.

According to Section 15:4, Item Two, of Ordinance 02-80, holidays such as Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day, and the Fourth of July would be the only exceptions to the curfew.

Grocery stores, drug stores and gas stations that sell alcoholic beverages could, unlike their counterparts, remain open during the curfew hours. However, these retailers would also be unable to sell alcohol during those hours.

The penalty for violating the ordinance could be as little as a $100 fine or as much as a $500 fine or imprisonment.

But stores and bars are not the only ones that are fighting the parish ordinance. Some restaurant owners would also be affected by the change in policy.

“It would drive customers to neighboring parishes,” said Scott Wild, owner of Airline Motors Restaurant. “I will lose business on my bar and I will lose business on my restaurant.”

Wild operates both a bar and restaurant at that location.

On Saturday nights the restaurant is open 24 hours. The ordinance, he said, would force him to close early and “run people off the property.”

“In LaPlace, even dinner-wise, surprisingly, it is a late night town,” he said. “The bar does not even reach capacity until midnight.”

If the ordinance passes, he said, five employees would lose two shifts. That could mean that a couple of the Airline Motors employees would lose jobs.

“I did notice the parish agenda,” Wild said. “Ninety percent of it was money issues.

“If they have so many money issues, why would they want to run business, tax dollars, to other parishes.”

Wolfe asked the council members to table the ordinance for 30 days until such time as the council can meet with representatives of the Sheriff’s Office, the District Attorney, local bar owners and other officials to further discuss the ordinance.