Alcohol sales suspended at Bees Town
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on September 15, 2017 7:50 PM
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In this file photo from June 2017, the parking lot of Bees Town Grocery is seen after it has been taped off by Goldsboro police amid a shooting investigation.
City residents can no longer buy alcohol from the Bees Town Grocery at 905 S. Slocumb St. after the state ABC Commission issued a summary suspension on the establishment today.
Wayne County ABC Law Enforcement Chief Joe Sadler said the suspension took effect at about 6 p.m. Friday.
"What that means is that effective at about 6 p.m., they are no longer able to sell alcohol due to the violence and the shootings that have occurred there in the recent months and years since it's been open," Sadler said.
The suspension is in effect until the case is heard by the Office of Administrative Hearings.
Sadler said the business is allowed to keep the alcohol it already has on its premises, but is not allowed to sell it.
This suspension was issued after about a three month-long investigation by Alcohol Law Enforcement, Wayne County ABC and the Goldsboro Police Department.
Sadler said there were numerous shootings, assaults, drug deals and other crimes happening on the business' premises.
Because of this, residents were becoming scared, he said.
"We've interviewed approximately 20 people, and those 20 people include pastors of churches, school administrators and citizens that live in that area, and they're actually fearful of that location and going by that location," Sadler said. "We felt that, such as it is, they didn't need to be selling any alcohol there."
Sadler said this is the first time that a convenience store in Goldsboro has been issued a summary suspension by the state ABC commission. He added it might very well be the first time it has happened in the state, as these types of suspensions are usually reserved for bars.
"When you have a location such as Bees Town Grocery, with the acts of violence that have been occurring there, we felt that they no longer needed the right or the privilege to sell alcoholic beverages there," Sadler said.
This suspension was issued in an effort to cut down on the violence and crime in the area, Sadler said.
"Usually anywhere you have malt beverages, beer and/or wine sold at a location like this, this probably makes up a great deal of (the owner's) daily purchases, and we feel if we can do this, then that will cut down on the people that are hanging in the parking lot and going in and out," Sadler said. "We feel that it will make a big dent in the violence that's occurring there in that parking lot."
Sadler acknowledged this measure had the potential to push the violence happening in the area to another part of the city.
"There's always a possibility of that," Sadler said. "But we have a plan to deal with that if that does occur."
The most recent shooting at the business was September 7. It is the second shooting at the store in three months.
Bees Town Grocery has held its current ABC permits since Oct. 28, 2013.