[Vision2020] What Makes Moscow Business-Unfriendly?

[joekc at roadrunner.com]

Again I'm having trouble understanding this and maybe someone can help.

At the very bottom of the article is says: "The CROSSing members say allowing beer and wine 
near the church endangers children and could cause crime."

Yet they moved their church next to an establishment that sells alcohol anyway?

--
Joe Campbell

---- Saundra Lund <sslund_2007 at verizon.net> wrote: 
> 23 Sept. 2008
> 
> Moscow-Pullman Daily News
> Moscow church objects to alcohol at nearby cafe License up for renewal in
> January, council to take up issue at Oct. 6 meeting
> By Tara Roberts, Daily News staff writer
> 
> The CROSSing Pastor John Houser doesn't think Cafe Silos should be allowed
> to sell beer and wine because of its proximity to the church.
> 
> Houser and several members of the Moscow church's congregation attended the
> City Council's Administrative Committee meeting Monday to express their
> displeasure with the nearby cafe's ability to sell alcoholic beverages.
> 
> Beer and wine licenses are not normally allowed within 300 feet of a church,
> but the council waived the requirement for Cafe Silos in May 2007. The
> CROSSing moved into a Travois Way location that is next door to Cafe Silos
> in March. 
> 
> The council reviewed the decision in October when Pastor Rick Parsons of the
> Impact Church, which occupied the Travois Way building at the time, objected
> to the license. The council unanimously decided to uphold its decision, but
> agreed to review the license down the road.
> 
> The license will be up for renewal again in January, and The CROSSing
> members said they wanted to make their voices heard before then.
> 
> "We're just asking that the law is presented for a reason ... and we're
> asking that that law be reviewed," Houser said. "We would like to see that
> law held up with the 300-foot distance."
> 
> The CROSSing member Larry Todd argued that the beer and wine license
> shouldn't be allowed near a church or in a predominantly residential
> neighborhood. He said he's concerned about the potential mix of "alcohol,
> cars and kids." Part of Cafe Silos' parking is near The CROSSing's
> playground.
> 
> "Anybody drinking their nice, smooth merlot, when they're done, 50 percent
> of them have the potential of having to walk past that playground, get in
> their car, and drive past that playground and leave," Todd said.
> 
> The CROSSing submitted several letters asking the council to revoke the
> license and a petition with about 50 signatures of people opposed to the
> license.
> 
> Attorney Jack Porter spoke on behalf of Cafe Silos owners Ray and Brenda von
> Wandruszka and Rob Davis.
> 
> He said he felt some of The CROSSing members were misinformed, believing
> that the license is illegal. The license is legal because the council waived
> the requirement prohibiting beer and wine near churches.
> 
> Porter also said Cafe Silos is "not the Beach or CJ's" and has never had
> alcohol-related crime problems.
> 
> "I find it offensive that they think they can move into a neighborhood where
> there's already an established, legal business conducting itself in a quiet,
> inoffensive way, and say, 'We don't like alcohol so you have to stop serving
> it,' " Porter said.
> 
> The committee decided to send the issue to the full City Council for
> discussion at its Oct. 6 meeting. Committee members and Councilmen Bill
> Lambert and Tom Lamar said they are inclined to uphold the license.
> 
> Lamar, who lives near Cafe Silos, said he's never seen any sort of unruly
> behavior by people drinking at the cafe. He added that just because The
> CROSSing members complained doesn't mean the council has to revoke the
> license.
> 
> "The beer and wine license has already been issued, certainly for us to
> review again," he said. "But I don't see the neighbors or (Cafe Silos)
> trying to get the church to change what it's preaching."
> 
> Houser said after the meeting that he felt the committee members were asking
> the church not to push its beliefs on the cafe, but "forcing the business'
> agenda on the church."
> 
> Houser said he and church members will attend the council meeting and speak
> again.
> 
> Church member Aleta Sonnenberg said she's worried that the council's
> decision to uphold the license will start a chain reaction of other licenses
> being issued near churches and schools and in residential neighborhoods.
> 
> "It's not just the church, it's the precedent it sets," she said.
> 
> QUICKREAD
> 
> WHAT HAPPENED: Members of The CROSSing church asked the Moscow City
> Council's Administrative Committee to consider revoking Cafe Silo's beer and
> wine license because the cafe is near the church.
> 
> n WHAT IT MEANS: The license is up for renewal in January. The council can
> decide not to waive a legal requirement that prohibits alcohol licenses
> within 300 feet of churches.
> 
> WHAT HAPPENS NEXT: The full council will discuss the issue Oct. 6.
> 
> WHY YOU SHOULD CARE: The CROSSing members say allowing beer and wine near
> the church endangers children and could cause crime. An attorney for Cafe
> Silos said it's unfair for the church to push its beliefs on the cafe and
> its patrons.
> 
> Tara Roberts can be reached at (208) 882-5561, ext. 234, or by e-mail at
> troberts at dnews.com.
> 
> 
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