by elizabeth farina, Midlothian Exchange.com
efarina@midlothianexchange.com

UPDATE: Midlothian District Supervisor Dan Gecker’s telephone number listed in the picture is incorrect.

It’s not the first time in Virginia that law enforcement has used a dormant county code when police identify a business as a thorn in a rosy community. County Rib & Ale House and Mulligan’s, both located on Hull Street Road, have posted “No Dancing” signs at their front doors. Neither business has the required nightclub permit, a $25 application process. The 1978 code, which was last updated in 2001, allows a commercial business with a nightclub permit to offer adult beverages, live entertainment and dancing. If the permit is denied by the Chesterfield County Police Chief for reasons ranging from zoning and plumbing to the applicant considered not being “of good moral character,” the business that thrives on live entertainment is faced with fines if the business owner does not enforce the dancing restriction on its customers.

Two businesses cited

Chesterfield County Police has cited the County Rib & Ale House twice for dancing without a nightclub permit. Both dancing incidents were on Feb. 6 and Feb. 20. Mulligan’s was also cited for a dancing incident in February. The County Rib & Ale House’s five investors received a summons in early March.

Establishment co-owner Don Quicke stated the business has been open for four years. The criminal background check required for a Virginia Department of Alcohol Beverage Control license had not been an issue. “I, and my dad, passed with flying colors,” Quicke said. “I had not had a traffic ticket since 1980s.”

He did state that the County Rib & Ale had applied for the nightclub permit two years ago, but it was turned down. Quicke removed the dance floor as instructed by county staff and placed tables in front of the stage. He has been told that the nightclub permit is still denied. “They said the police had been called here too many times,” Quicke said.

He is concerned that the business is being targeted in order to shut it down because similar locations that serve alcohol and have live entertainment and dancing, have not been cited. “They’re dancing to the beat of the band at these locations. They haven’t bothered any of these other businesses,” he said.

Quicke has made layoffs to keep the business doors open. “It’s wrecked our bottom line at least 20 percent. We have approximately 17 altogether working part- and full-time,” he said.

However, business owners are not the only ones upset. The customer reaction has been horrible when Quicke tells a patron that the dancing restriction is not a joke. The business could face an ABC hearing for being non-compliant with the county code. “It’s serious stuff. In our business, we can’t operate without an ABC license,” he said.

A petition for change in the code

Patrons have started a petition for the county code to be changed. “It’s a ‘Footloose’ law,” said Mark Linegar, a bartender’s husband who organized a customer-driven petition to change the law. “We don’t have trouble up here.”

Linegar, 52, is concerned that the law is too open for interpretation. “How much movement does it take to be called dancing? Are we supposed to glue our butts to a barstool?”

The lifelong Chesterfield County resident has heard crowd feedback from patrons. He has also collected over 400 signatures on the petition for the Board of Supervisors to reconsider the law. “People are outraged,” he said. “We’re grown people. I don’t want to take my revenue to the city of Richmond to dance.”

John Domo, band member of The K.O.D.E., is concerned the law’s economic affects are on more than a bar owner’s revenue. Besides the impact on the bar staff, who work the second job for additional income, it also trickles into the entertainment side. “It affects performers who make additional income performing to crowds who dance to their music,” Domo stated in an e-mail. “The law also affects sound providers who provide the audio and lighting equipment and their employees who work on the evenings of the events.”

He is also concerned that other county businesses may be targeted in the sweeping enforcement. “Look out. You’re next,” Domo said.

police outline its concerns

Chesterfield County Police Officer Maj. Karl Leonard, Commander of the Uniform Operations, stated that Mulligan’s is not zoned for a nightclub and County Rib & Ale has been denied a permit because the police department has had 51 calls for service to the location since January 2008, “Which is why it becomes significant,” Maj. Leonard said. “If we’re going to get 51 calls for service, something is not right to warrant that much police response.”

Maj. Leonard stated that on four separate occasions police officers were assaulted and one sustained an injury. “Twenty-six of the 51 [service calls] specifically dealt with a disturbance inside,” he said. “It has shown a track history of disorderly issues within the establishment.”

Maj. Leonard, which identified 14 active nightclub permits in the county on file in 2009, added that a nightclub should not be confused with a bar such as Applebee’s and T.G.I.F. There are a lot of nightclubs that the department has not come in contact with, Maj. Leonard said. He also noted the application process is also a joint effort among the zoning department and the commissioner of revenue. 

“It’s not just restaurants and bars, we’re looking at all establishments. If this would have been a shoe store we would have taken a more aggressive look at the shoe store,” Maj. Leonard said.

As for other Virginia bars and restaurants being targeted, the former Anchor House in Moneta, Va., was informed in 2000 that management was required to enforce a 1972 Franklin County code that denied dancing on Sundays. The establishment closed later that year.