After several minutes of discussion, Orange Beach council passed an amendment to the code of ordinances that would outlaw the sale of alcohol from a stand-alone bar within 1,000 feet of a school.

Presently, there are no regulations regarding how alcohol can be sold in relationship to a school. Councilman Jeff Silvers said that the ordinance would put that protection in place.

"If we pass this ordinance tonight, there will be protection for our school children and our schools not to allow alcohol sales from a stand-alone,honky-tonk on the corner of Wilson Blvd and Canal Road," Silvers said. "It regulates a certain piece of property that everybody knows, the old Snapper¹s Lounge, to be able to continue to operate in that business section with a restaurant that can serve beer and wine only. That¹s it. No hard liquor. No honky-tonk."

Presently the former Snapper¹s Lounge is being renovated to open as a pizza restaurant that will sell alcoholic beverages. Silvers said he had received several calls from the community, and wanted to remind citizens that property owners did have property rights.

"If this passes, it protects our children, and that¹s it," Silvers said.

Mayor Tony Kennon said that the council had been given time to look over the proposal and seemed to be comfortable with the ordinance.

"This says 1,000 feet from the property line of the school to the property line of any property in question, which is GPS mapped, which makes it objective not subjective," said Kennon. "What is allowed now within that 1,000 feet is a beer or wine license within a restaurant setting. It allows a restaurant to open and have an opportunity to be successful without setting up the potential for a stand-alone bar situation next to our school which none of us want."

Resident George O¹Neal addressed the council encouraging them to not allow alcohol sales of any kind within the 1,000 feet

"What you have to understand is that beer and wine can be just as dangerous as liquor,² O¹Neal said. "I¹ve seen the plans for this place, and across the back in the screened in part it said BAR."

O¹Neal said that the state no longer uses the 50 percent rule of food sales to qualify an establishment as a restaurant.

"Alcohol is still the leading cause of divorce, it is the leading cause of teenage deaths, and there is nothing good about it. I know people are going to drink. But if we open doors that close to our schools, that close to our fire department, can you imagine the chaos?"

Kennon insisted that if the ordinance did not pass, that it could open the door for the building in question to be used for hard liquor sales.

"I guess my concern with the ordinance would be selling any alcohol within that distance to the school," said councilwoman Pattisue Carranza. "Doing a 1,000-foot buffer from the property line of a school seems fair to me. I just wonder if it should be all alcohol."

The ordinance passed unanimously.