THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, July 27, 1995 TAG: 9507270418
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY LANE DEGREGORY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines
The North Carolina House drove the final spike Wednesday into a futile attempt to provide a marina with the only liquor license in this Outer Banks town.
Less than a week after legislators passed an unpublicized bill allowing Pirate's Cove Restaurant to apply for a state liquor license, the elected official who initially sponsored the bill made sure it got killed.
The House voted unanimously Wednesday to repeal the liquor-by-the-drink provision. The Senate voted to repeal the law on Tuesday.
The bill would have allowed Pirate's Cove to apply for a liquor license Oct. 1.
State Rep. William T. Culpepper III, D-Edenton, said the repeal is a done deal.
"There was no debate, no discussion, in the House about this bill. It passed 111 to 0. The speaker of the House and the Senate president or president pro tem still have to sign it," said Culpepper, who sponsored the initial bill and supported its repeal after a public outcry. "But that's automatic now."
A sprawling marina and housing community about two miles across a salt marsh from downtown Manteo, Pirate's Cove includes hundreds of homes and townhouses.
Although it is geographically separated from Manteo, Pirate's Cove is officially part of the town. Manteo residents have rejected a liquor-by-the-drink referendum four times in the past 13 years. A new referendum cannot be introduced to local voters until 1997.
Culpepper and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, D-Manteo, pushed the liquor-by-the-drink bill through the General Assembly last week. They said they were aware Manteo residents had rejected liquor by the drink several times already. But they thought Pirate's Cove deserved special consideration because it is not physically connected to the rest of Manteo - and because so many other state liquor exemptions already exist.
Manteo town officials said they were not aware of the state legislation permitting Pirate's Cove to apply for a liquor license until a Saturday article in The Virginian-Pilot reported the action.
Monday night, the town Board of Commissioners called a special emergency meeting about the issue. The town board unanimously passed a resolution asking the General Assembly to rescind the Pirate's Cove liquor provision. Less than 12 hours later, Basnight introduced an amendment to quash the authorization. Culpepper supported the same amendment.
"I'm sorry about the controversy," Culpepper said Wednesday from his Raleigh office. "Once the town board made their feelings known, we did what we had to do - and we did it as quickly as we could."
Pirate's Cove Managing Partner Glenn Futrell said the Assembly's action repealing his ability to apply for a liquor license "is a great disappointment.''
``We felt it was an appropriate thing to do for Pirate's Cove because of the type of community we have here,'' Futrell said. ``It's history now, though. There are no plans at this time to seek another liquor-by-the-drink referendum. We're just getting back to business as usual.''
Diners who want to drink liquor at Pirate's Cove Restaurant, Futrell said, will have to bring their own bottles in brown bags. by CNB