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During a public hearing at the Lowndes County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday for on-site consumption of alcohol, Chairman Ashley Paulk gave the new owner of Rascal’s some stern advice about operations.

“I understand you all are associated with Vegas and this is an area where residents live close by and we expect you to respect their wishes and try and work with them,” he said. “I pulled the records on Vegas and over the last seven months, we’ve had a little over 70 911 calls where the Sheriff answered.”

“We have 120,000 people to look after and I just expect you to run a clean and quiet establishment. If not, we expect the Sheriff to enforce the law,” Paulk said. “We will work with you in any way we can and we’d be glad to and we hope you do well with it, but understand the area you’re going into is a lot different than what Vegas is.”

Without further comment, commissioners unanimously approved the license for consumption of alcohol on premises.

In other news, commissioners also unanimously approved the following agenda items:

• The appointment of Sheila Crowley Cook to serve on the Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Addictive Diseases Region Four Planning Board.

• A request for a license for Rum Runner North, LLC, located at 5111 Bemiss Road, for the consumption of alcohol on premises.

• A request to rezone 7.1 acres of land located on Hickory Grove Road from a mixture of Estate Agriculture and Residential Agriculture to entirely Residential Agriculture for the purposes of building two dwellings for family members on 4.6 acres of land owned by the applicant. Currently, there is one dwelling located on the remaining 2.5 acres of land.

• A request to rezone 97 acres from a combination of Medium Density Residential and Conservation to Residential Agriculture.

• A request to modify an approved Planned Development site plan of 12 acres of land located on James Road for the use of a transitional facility.

• A license for the consumption of beer off premises due to a change of ownership for Shree Hari 2012, Inc., of Triangle Foods, located at 4946 US Highway 41 South.

• A request to authorize the Chairman to sign a letter requesting the Georgia Department of Community Affairs to amend the previously approved FY 2010 Community Development Block Grant. The amendment in question focuses on the change in location for the proposed use.

• A request to authorize the Chairman to sign a resolution regarding the application for FY 2012 Community Development Block Grant Funds. The proposed application focuses on improvements to Second Harvest.

• A request to move forward with a United States Department of Agriculture grant for $50,000 presented to the county by USDA liaison, Jerome Tucker. Staff is requesting permission to apply for the grant on behalf of Lowndes County Extension Services for the purchase of a bus due to a recent change in laws that no longer allow young program participants to be transported by van.

At the beginning of the meeting, commissioners recognized Ellen Plissey’s recent retirement from the Lowndes County Utilities Department.

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