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Chacala_Nayarit
Nov 21, 2005, 07:32 PM
Christians mobilise to block liquor business

By Ruth O’Kelly-Lynch

A young entrepreneur is running into a formidable opponent as he tries to start a small business – the church.

Jermaine Simons of 34 Pompano Road, Southampton has applied for a liquor licence for his company, JB Beverage. Mr. Simons has applied for a Restricted A License for his parents residence in Southampton
He is currently attending Seneca College in Ontario, Canada and will complete his studies this year.

Mr. Simons, 21, wants to bring a few cases of a speciality liquor that is all the rage in Canada and distribute them to various hotels on the Island.
His mother, Claire Simons, did not want to go into detail about the product because her son has worked very hard and done a lot of research to ensure he is the only one bringing the product into the Island.

His mother said his son has already gone to a number of hotels to pitch his product and there has been considerable interest.

As a young businessman, Mr. Simons sought guidance from Small Business Development Corporation and was told obtaining a liquor licence would be the first step towards starting his business.

His application appeared in The Royal Gazette and has raised the ire of some neighbours.

An email campaign was started by one of the neighbours and has been passed on to The Royal Gazette.

The neighbour’s email states that allowing Mr. Simons to obtain the liquor licence could lead to the ruin of the area.

In the e-mail, the neighbour said: “If we keep quiet then we are only adding to the proliferation of alcohol in this community. As Christians, we must stand for righteous living, and we must bring back some Godly order to our society.”

Another woman in the e-mail chain referenced Proverb 14:34 which says “Righteous exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people” as a reason to lodge a complaint. The second woman stated people should do their part and lodge a complaint because “we don’t want to give the enemy a foothold as we know that he comes to steal, kill and destroy”.
The woman asked people to “pray, pray, pray” that the licence was not granted and urged people to lodge formal, written complaints.

She told people that they could lodge complaints for a number of reasons. She said complaints could cite concerns about a lack of parking, increased traffic congestion because of large trucks coming to and from the house, an increase in fire hazards, and a lack of monitoring which would allow anyone to purchase anything from the home.

Mrs. Simons was amazed that an objection was being raised because her son was attempting to start a very small business.


“He doesn’t have that type of money to be bringing in container loads of these bottles. We’re talking about a few boxes, he’ll pick them up at the docks and deliver them to his clients.”

Mrs. Simons was disappointed that no one has come to raise their concerns with her family personally.

She said there would not be trucks coming to the house or parking issues because it was a small business that was merely concerned with importing and distributing a product.

She said no one would be purchasing the liquor directly from her residence and that Jermaine would be delivering it.

“Young people need to be encouraged. My son has always been entrepreneurial. He’s just about to finish college and is trying to find a way to start a business and provide something no one else is.”

Goes to show you how aggressive the xtians are being these days. They don't even need to bring up more legitimate reasons, like why the hell should a residential home have a liquor license? No, they just have to say, "It's not gawd's way" and that explains everything. :rolleyes: :(



bousozoku
Nov 21, 2005, 07:59 PM
It's not so surprising. A local baptist church here drove away a restaurant in the shopping plaza across the street because they wanted a liquor license, so that they could sell wine or other spirits. They seemed quite concerned about their congregation, so why stop the restaurant? Why not keep their congregation out of it?

zimv20
Nov 21, 2005, 08:40 PM
chacala -- link, please. again.

gwuMACaddict
Nov 21, 2005, 08:53 PM
wonder what the "specialty liquor" is?:confused:

absinth comes to mind...

CanadaRAM
Nov 21, 2005, 09:15 PM
OK I'll bite.

How many letters were there in total?
The media picked out two letters that had religious grounds for objection -- how many of the others cited religion?

If there were 100 letters all citing religious grounds, then the report is representative and fair. Otherwise I smell media sensationalism here or a deliberate spin by the erstwhile proprietor of the establishment.

Something that always irks me: Someone asks for special treatment -- in this case a business license to operate a liquor import and sales business in a residential zone -- and then plays all small time and innocent and unfairly set upon -"it's only a few boxes, he's just making a few dollars for school, why are we being singled out for objection?" When in reality, it is they who are asking for the rules to be bent or an exception to be made for them.

There was a person here opened a hair salon or some such at home and erected a large sign without a permit. They squawked when they were forced to take down their oversized, non-permitted sign "why pick on the litttle people, I'm just trying to make an honest living, it's not hurting anybody unfair babble babble." Well, every other small business has to comply with the same laws, and they do it so why should you be preferentially treated because you didn't bother to take the time to check what the requirements were?

mactastic
Nov 25, 2005, 10:41 AM
Something that always irks me: Someone asks for special treatment -- in this case a business license to operate a liquor import and sales business in a residential zone -- and then plays all small time and innocent and unfairly set upon -"it's only a few boxes, he's just making a few dollars for school, why are we being singled out for objection?" When in reality, it is they who are asking for the rules to be bent or an exception to be made for them.
Special treatment? How so?

From the article:As a young businessman, Mr. Simons sought guidance from Small Business Development Corporation and was told obtaining a liquor licence would be the first step towards starting his business.

His application appeared in The Royal Gazette and has raised the ire of some neighbours.
Seeking the advice of your local business advisory group doesn't sound like asking for special treatment. Sounds like he then ran an ad to make his business legit and someone decided that liquor and Christian values don't mix and that it was their business what his business was.

Sounds to me like the neighbors are the ones asking for special treatment...

That being said, without knowing what his "specialty liquor" is it's hard to make any kind of value judgment about his business. Maybe it does need to be outside a residential area or shut down. Who knows.

Thomas Veil
Nov 26, 2005, 05:16 PM
I hope this is just one or two isolated nutcases, because it doesn't sound like this guy is trying to do anything wrong. The Proverbs lady in particular sounds like a religious nut.

Between this and the "creationism in museums" thread, I am really, really, really getting to hate religion. I am getting so sick of these constipated moral purists telling everyone else they have to live their lives according to their book of fables.

mpw
Nov 26, 2005, 05:48 PM
I wish these religious f888king idoits would stop trying to ram their unproven, unlikely and IMO totally fanciful crap beliefs down everyone else's throats.

I don't remember Jesus even applying for a license or permit before supplying all and sundry with wine he made himself, f888king moonshiner. Probably dodged taxes too.

IJ Reilly
Nov 26, 2005, 06:30 PM
I thought this kind of thing only happened in the U.S.

Thomas Veil
Nov 26, 2005, 07:04 PM
Stupidity is becoming our biggest export.

CanadaRAM
Nov 26, 2005, 07:31 PM
Special treatment? How so?

From the article:
Seeking the advice of your local business advisory group doesn't sound like asking for special treatment. Sounds like he then ran an ad to make his business legit and someone decided that liquor and Christian values don't mix and that it was their business what his business was.

Sounds to me like the neighbors are the ones asking for special treatment...

That being said, without knowing what his "specialty liquor" is it's hard to make any kind of value judgment about his business. Maybe it does need to be outside a residential area or shut down. Who knows.

I have no idea how zoning works in that locality, but around here:
Each property has a permittted use according to the zoning assigned to it in the community plan - typically a residential area is all zoned for residential use only and excludes commercial use exept in specific bits.

To open a business in a residential area would require a 'Variance' where the home owner petitions the council to provide an exception for their property to permit an infringing use. That petition is separate from a business license or a reseller registration in that the zoning change is pertinent to the use of the particular property. Neighbors have the right to oppose a zoning change that they feel will damage their neighborhood, or provide for unreasonable use within the zone -- the neighbor's petitions are considered as part of the zoning decision -- so if they don't organise their objections, then they have no say.

Thing is, once a variance is granted, it can't be taken back. There is a long history of getting a variance for one type of use with limited impact (no big trucks, just a few customers a day, won't bother anybody) and then the operation expanding to the utmost limit of the bylaws, creating the traffic, noise and disruption that was solemnly promised never to happen.

And one variance inevitibly gets used as a precedent for others, so "if my neighbor gets a liquor business, you can't deny me my application for a motorcycle repair business."

mactastic
Nov 27, 2005, 09:18 AM
Huh, that's odd. I don't remember anything in that article talking about a variance, which is indeed a special exemption, or a zoning change. :confused:

'Round these parts it's OK to have a small business out of your home as long as it doesn't involve people parking at your house, noxious fumes, live farm animals etc.

You do know that many people actually work out of their homes? I know several architects and engineers who do business this way. They charge money for a product that is produced in a residential neighborhood -- one zoned explicitly for residential use. I even stop by occasionally (maybe once a week) to check in on the process. Totally legal.

Heck, there's a guy down the street a ways from me here that runs a welding business out of his garage. He's constantly out there running a welding torch putting together architectural ironwork for railings and such.

Anyway, I'm just wondering where you got that this kid was getting special treatment from the article posted? Do you have other information that I don't see here? Like I said, I see nothing about zoning or variances here -- outside of your comments, which I'm not sure apply here.

I know we're all against 'special treatment' for others, but to me it sounds like this kid did everything right (except I'm a little concerned that he won't name his product) but assuming it's something that's legal to import and sell, I can't see how that's all that much different than running an eBay store out of your house...