Charges filed in Perry bar case

The bar, which refused service to a black man in its front lounge, still faces the loss of its liquor license.

By ALISA ULFERTS and LUCY MORGAN

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 21, 2001

TALLAHASSEE -- Talmadge Branch, the black Maryland lawmaker who couldn't get a drink at a Perry bar, will instead get an apology from the owner and the bartender who refused to serve him.

"I just want it to be sincere," Branch said Tuesday evening.

Perry Package and Lounge owner David Holton and bartender Patricia Hughes were charged Tuesday with a second-degree misdemeanor, accusing them of refusing to serve Branch in the front lounge when he stopped at the North Florida bar Feb. 3.

The two have each agreed to pay a $500 fine and write a letter of apology to Branch. If they follow through, the charges will be dropped, according to State Attorney Jerry Blair.

Neither Holton nor Hughes could be reached for comment.

Holton isn't contesting Blair's charges. But his attorney, Greg Parker, said Holton, 48, does plan to challenge the state's attempts to revoke his liquor license. The state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco on Monday accused Holton of "a long-standing custom of refusing service to African-American patrons in the main bar area."

Branch's complaint brought widespread publicity to the bar after the St. Petersburg Times disclosed the episode. Several state and federal agencies have begun investigations, and Parker is wondering why his client is being singled out.

"It begs the question: What's the motivation? There's a concern on our part, given the swiftness and the multiforce assault," Parker said.

It is a misdemeanor to refuse service to anyone based on race. A 26-page investigative report released Tuesday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement suggests other problems at the bar.

The FDLE agents said they found two jukeboxes at Perry Package -- one in the front lounge with country music and one in the back room that held music from predominantly black artists.

According to the report, Hughes, the bartender who was charged, acknowledged that she sent Branch to a back room because there were "rednecks" in the bar and she wanted to "get him out of the line of fire."

Hughes denied that Holton ever told her to refuse service to blacks but said bartenders were told to suggest to black patrons that they go in the back if white customers seemed likely to get rough. They were to serve them in the front if they wanted, Hughes said.

But a former bartender told agents that Holton had instructed her not to serve black customers in the front lounge because "rednecks might hurt them" and to call the police if they refused to go to the back.

That bartender, Carrie Estelle Yates, said Holton sent her home early about a year ago to punish her because he saw her serve black customers at the lounge.

Yates also told FDLE agents that she was ordered to charge Mexican customers more for their drinks. However, "Mexican patrons were allowed to be served in the front lounge."

Parker called Yates' statements "untruths."

FDLE agents also said they talked to about a dozen black men at a nearby bar who said members of the black community knew they were expected to drink in the back room.

Gov. Jeb Bush ordered the FDLE investigation on Feb. 5, two days after Branch complained to Perry police. The governor has come under fire from minorities recently for dismantling the state's affirmative action program and his slow response to minority voters' complaints that they were turned away from the polls during the November election.

"It's a rarity for us to get these kind of investigations," said FDLE Commissioner James T. "Tim" Moore. "(But) we're finished. We're out of Perry," he added.

That's apparently not the case for the state Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. Tuesday morning, Hardy Roberts, general counsel for that agency, said that his investigation is continuing and that other establishments will be charged if his agency discovers similar situations. Black Perry residents have said that a number of businesses in Perry won't serve them or that the businesses force them to sit apart from white customers.

"We have an investigation ongoing," Roberts said. "I can't talk about the details, but if there are other bars in the area engaged in this conduct, we believe it will be brought to light and we'll take appropriate action."

Commenting on charges brought against the Perry bar, Bush told reporters Tuesday that he thinks the alleged conduct "is indefensible." He asked the state agency that regulates bars to conduct its own investigation.

"The law has to be upheld," Bush said. "They can't have separate, but so-called equal service areas. This is 2001, whether it's a bar or someplace else, it shouldn't be going on."

And if he discovers the practice is endemic to any area in Florida, perhaps the state should call on federal authorities for help, the governor added.

Roberts said the state last took similar action against a Florida business in 1994 in the St. Augustine area. That bar also lost its license after refusing to serve a black customer, he said.

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