(Editor’s note: The following column was first published in this space on Jan. 30, 2009. Though crime has grown through the area since, little has been done to curb activities around late-night establishments. We continue to advocate for changes in this area to make Gwinnett County a safer place. Closing bars earlier is one of GwinnettForum’s Continuing Objectives. —eeb)
By Elliott Brack
Editor and publisher, GwinnettForum.com
DEC. 15, 2023 – Consider, if you will, what sort of activity goes on in Gwinnett between the hours of 2 a.m. and 5 a.m.
How about this description: “Not much good!”
Some law-abiding citizens may get home from work routinely at 2 or 3 a.m. (We feel for them.) We know some early-birds who arise at 5 a.m. We suppose they are just built that way.
Yet there are others among us who are still not in bed by 2 a.m., and in fact, make it their normal routine to be out and about during these morning hours. We find that the way the law is written in Gwinnett, many establishments that serve alcoholic beverages are staying open well past the deadline for halting the sale of alcoholic beverages. One such outlet, pictured here, advertises it as staying open until 5 a.m.
Gwinnett ordinances read that if the establishment serves alcoholic beverages for consumption on the premises, they can only serve between the hours of 9 a.m. until 1:55 a.m. Monday through Saturday. On Sundays, they may serve from 12:30 p.m. until midnight, but only at places which derive at least 50 percent of their annual gross sales from prepared food or from overnight lodging.
Now let’s go into this further. If these establishments (some may be known in the vernacular as “bars,” or even by other terms, such as “joints”) have to halt sales at 1:55 a.m. at the latest, what happens from then until 5 a.m.?
Of course, we suppose a person could order another drink at 1:50 a.m., or two or three, and sit around and consume those (maybe warm) drinks well past 1:55 a.m. Perhaps some sit there and drink until 5 a.m. (Code Section 6-93.)
Far more possible, we suspect, is that the bulk of heated discussion, arguments and perhaps fights and gunshots, take place between 2 and 5 a.m. than at other times. And there is no telling what else those in attendance at such joints will get into after the technical end of serving time. We would be more literal in suggesting that what goes on at these late hours could not, in many ways, be considered “pretty” or “wholesome” or even “nice.” You perhaps can imagine some such shenanigans. You could also probably correlate unusual activities during these hours with calls to the police to come to these establishments.
All this, you understand, without even mentioning other possibilities, such as activities with drugs, taking place during this time slot.
Yes, we would like to see change:
- Requiring all places serving alcoholic beverages to completely close by 3 a.m. at the latest.
- Better still, move the time up by an hour for the “last call” of drinks, say until 12:55 a.m., with closing by 2 a.m.
- Far closer regulation of these establishments.
Gwinnett is not a good-time convention county. We see no reason for our county, one where most people like to say that they believe in “family values,” to routinely allow long, after-midnight activity in places serving alcoholic beverages.
Governments have long used the tool of regulation for establishments serving alcoholic beverages. We feel Gwinnett needs to get tougher in this area. The county commission is the authority in these matters. It should investigate just what goes on between 2-5 a.m. at these places.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
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