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ABC ENFORCEMENT AGENTS BOTCH INVESTIGATION THAT RESULTED IN A LAWSUIT AGAINST ABC

CRISMAN (on left,no longer with ABC), ROBINSON (center)  & BOKKER (on right, no longer with ABC) 

In April 2013, ABC Enforcement agents failed to discover that a church was located within 1000 feet of the proposed location for the liquor store of Kym Reeves d/b/a 102 Liquors.  Had these seasoned law enforcement agents conducted their investigation properly, Reeves application would have been denied because it was too close (approximately 673 feet) to the Filadelfia Llamada Final N.W. Arkansas Church.

Ark. Code Ann. § 3-4-206(b)(1) states no new permit to sell liquor will  be issued if the location is within 1000 feet of any church or school.


The Filadelfia Llamada Final NWA church's Facebook page has activity as far back as 2009


CLICK TO VIEW THE CHURCH'S FACEBOOK PAGE

According to the church's website they have been in Rogers since 2008


CLICK TO VIEW THE CHURCH'S WEBSITE

The church also obtained a Certificate of Occupancy from the City of Rogers on October 28, 2011 with a listed address of 2800 N 2nd Street, Rogers AR. 


Photos on the church's Facebook page show services being held in March and April 2013.





From testimony agents gave at an administrative hearing concerning Reeves application/permit it's very clear that they did not check public records (permits or occupancy records at city hall) to determine if a church or school was located in the prohibited area, they simply relied on visual observations.

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And when ABC Enforcement agent Robinson made contact with the pastor of the church he did not ascertain how long the church had been at the location. Extremely sloppy work.

One ABC Board member all but said it couldn't be a church because it did not look like a church.



Many churches today do not have a traditional appearance, and even one agent stated that in his testimony. It is not unusual to drive around Little Rock, or any city or town in Arkansas and see a church located in a building similar to the one that the Filadelfia Llamada Final N.W. Arkansas Church is located.

Not all church services are held in a building like this

A reasonable person would expect these agent would utilize more that just looking around to find out about the area.  Talk to nearby residents; go in a nearby gas station or convenience store to get information; check records at city hall; ask the local police or even use social media.

A LISTING OF SOME CHURCHES IN ROGERS

Or maybe the ABC Enforcement agents should contact us to help them avoid elementary mistakes like this one.

In a previous post on May 29th, ABC Enforcement Agent Lack Tools to Perform Job Functions, Bokker, the agent that initially missed the church testified in another administrative hearing that ABC Enforcement agents had no tools to do their job, except for Google.

ABC has a good sized budget and also has received some grants.  One would think that they would have more than Google to do their job. Some things like checking records at city hall or asking questions at a nearby gas station or convenience store cost nothing but time.  One has to asks if that it too hard for these agent to do, spend a little time and effort to do a thorough job.

If these ABC agents, especially Bokker, had bothered to use the only tool he stated under oath that he had to use, Google, they would have found a photo on Google Street View of a sign back in June 2012 that clearly indicated that a church was located at the site.



What led to a lawsuit being filed against the ABC was two individuals, Christopher Moore and James Linstruth both filed applications in close proximity to where Reeves liquor store is located. Both Moore and Linstruth's applications for permits were denied because of the same church that did not hinder Reeves obtaining a permit. Both claim that the ABC applied the law unequally when denying their permits and granting Reeves permit. If you are interested you can view the case (60CV-13-3278) and all the documents at the Administrative Office of the Courts CourtConnect Website.

CLICK TO SEARCH & VIEW CASE DOCUMENTS

Maybe the ABC should hire some agents with Hispanic backgrounds or that are fluent in Spanish to be able to read signs since their investigations rely so much on visual observations.

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