TaMolly’s Applies For Club Licenses In Craighead, Greene Counties

A pair of restaurants in Craighead and Greene counties have turned in paperwork to become private clubs, the director of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control board said Monday.

The TaMolly’s at 1710 Linwood St. in Paragould filed with the Little Rock office Aug. 1, while the TaMolly’s at 2506 East Highland Dr. in Jonesboro submitted the application Aug. 8.

The permit filings were made within a week of a group pushing to expand alcohol sales in Craighead County failed to turn in enough signatures by a July 31st deadline to potentially qualify the measure for the November ballot.

ABC Director Michael Langley said both restaurants have submitted their applications with his agency, setting up the process to determine if the licenses are approved.

The process includes putting up signs on the property, notifying people about the request; publishing the application in a newspaper and notifying public officials about the issue. If no objections are made, both requests could be on the agenda for the board’s September meeting, Langley said.

If there are objections to either request, Langley would hold an administrative hearing on the issue. The state agency waits at least 30 days before making any decision on a request. The 30-day window for a decision to be made would start on Aug. 26, Langley said.

If the Jonesboro request is approved, the club would be the 45th private club in Craighead County. The county has been dry since 1944 when voters approved banning the sale of alcoholic beverages in Craighead County. However, alcohol can be served in private clubs, with the rules for sale set by the ABC.

The manager of both restaurants, Ivan Rubio, was out of the office Monday, a person at the Jonesboro restaurant said. An attempt to also reach officials at the restaurant’s Texarkana corporate office Monday about the situation was not successful.

However, a company official told Talk Business & Politics content partner, KAIT Ch. 8, that the Paragould request was made after the restaurant gave up its permit to sell in 2010.

The owners also told the television station at the time that they believed getting a license was the wrong decision.

“We’re not only just trying to get back to what we think is right,” Kenny Brown, TaMolly’s director of operations, said. “We’re going to also try to effectively get that message to the community that we haven’t been the partner that we intended to be.”