THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 1, 1996 TAG: 9602010334
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
Legislation to ban a proposed Brew Thru convenience store in Virginia Beach passed its first legislative test Wednesday.
A committee voted 16-3 to send the bill before the full House of Delegates, an encouragement to those who think the concept promotes drinking and driving.
``You can call it a Brew Thru, you can call it a drive-through convenience store. It's still a basic policy shift for the state in its effort to separate alcohol and automobiles,'' said Del. Glenn Croshaw, D-Virginia Beach, sponsor of the bill.
A group of businessmen is constructing a drive-through convenience store at 29th Street and Pacific Avenue at the oceanfront. They are awaiting approval of an ABC license to sell beer and wine, which they say would account for about 30 percent of their sales.
The state's liquor laws prohibit selling alcohol to someone seated behind the wheel of an automobile. The Brew Thru owners are proposing a design that would allow patrons to drive into the building but would require them to get out of their cars to make purchases.
Virginia Beach Police Chief Charles R. Wall said he fears the stores would promote drunken driving and robberies. Bob Morris, the police chief in Kitty Hawk, N.C., testified that the drive-throughs have not caused any law enforcement problems on the Outer Banks.
The House General Laws Committee approved the bill outlawing drive-through alcohol sales, though not all members objected to the ``Brew Thru'' concept.
``In a regular convenience store you could have somebody in the driver's seat drunk as a skunk and he could just send his buddy in for beer,'' said Del. Vance Wilkins, R-Amherst.
The bill will be considered by the full House in several days, then would be transferred to the Senate if it passes. If both chambers vote to ban Brew Thrus, the governor could sign it into law. Senate gets measure to restrict OTB parlors
Legislation that would place new restrictions on off-track betting in Virginia advanced to the full Senate on Wednesday.
The bill is aimed at ensuring that the operator of OTB parlors in Chesapeake and Richmond will earmark profits to a planned thoroughbred track in New Kent County.
The bill's sponsor said he would return next year to shut down the two approved OTBs if the Ohio-based operator has not made satisfactory progress toward live horse racing that will benefit the state's horse industry.
``If we're no closer to a track being built in 1997 than we are now, there is going to be a lot of concern on the part of the General Assembly,'' said Sen. Kenneth W. Stolle, R-Virginia Beach.
On a voice vote, the Senate General Laws Committee approved a compromise supported by the Virginia Racing Commission, horse groups and even one anti-gambling foe.
The bill, however, has yet to win an endorsement from Arnold Stansley, an Ohio harness track operator who two years ago won a license to build the Colonial Downs track in New Kent County.
Lawyer William G. Thomas said his client neither opposes or supports the proposal, but reserves the right to ``wordsmith'' the bill.
Stolle's proposal limits Stansley to two OTBs - in Chesapeake and Richmond - until he reaches an agreement with horse groups to share some profits. The money would go to build prizes for races at Colonial Downs.
The bill also requires Stansley to invest the balance of the OTB profits in a special fund earmarked for construction of Colonial Downs, off Interstate 64 between Williamsburg and Richmond. Honaker relief bill stalls in House Claims panel
An Edward W. Honaker ``relief bill'' stalled Wednesday with lawmakers grappling over how to repay Honaker for the 10 years he languished behind bars for a rape he did not commit.
Members of the House Claims Committee - a so-called court of last resort for people wronged by the state - agree that Virginia should compensate Honaker. But his case is so unique that lawmakers were unable to decide if his request for $500,000 is grossly inflated or horribly undervalued.
Del. Leo C. Wardrup Jr., R-Virgina Beach, suggested the committee base the amount upon lost wages. Honaker, who lives in Roanoke, was earning about $17,000 annually as a carpenter when arrested in Nelson County in 1984.
As a rough estimate, Wardrup put lost wages - plus interest - at $350,000.
The salary-based model prompted a table-pounding response from Del. Jerrauld C. Jones, D-Norfolk.
``I don't think it's a matter of simple reimbursement,'' Jones said. ``This is a matter of damages. This man has been hurt.''
Del. Kenneth R. Melvin, D-Portsmouth, said he was sympathetic to Honaker's plight, but he cautioned the amount of money sought was a ``quantum leap'' from any previous claim by a wrongly imprisoned person.
The committee postponed action for a week to allow Honaker's attorney, Murray M. Janus, to research the formula used by other states.
Honaker, 45, was pardoned in October 1994 after DNA tests proved him not guilty of the June 1984 rape in Nelson County. MEMO: Staff writers Robert Little and David M. Poole compiled this report.
KEYWORDS: GENERAL ASSEMBLY OFF-TRACK BETTING PROPOSED BILL PROPOSED
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