Open-and-shut case: Mayor closes store, judge lets it reopen

ALTON - The mayor closed down a Mexico neighborhood convenience store Monday, only to have to let it reopen Tuesday morning under a judge's order."We'll keep battling the battle; we've got to get it closed," Alton Mayor Don Sandidge said about Central Package Liquor, 1303 Central Ave., where an employee sold a $5 "crack pipe starter kit" last December to an undercover buyer.Sandidge pulled the license to the store on Monday, instructing police to pick up the document from the business and close it down, which they did shortly after 3 p.m.However, Associate Judge Ralph Mendelsohn of Madison County issued a temporary restraining order against the city Tuesday morning, allowing Central Package Liquor to reopen until a circuit court hearing can be held within 10 days. The hearing, scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 29 before Associate Judge Thomas Chapman in Edwardsville, is for the owner's attorney, G. Edward Moorman of Alton, to request a preliminary injunction.If Chapman issues the injunction, the store can do business - including selling alcohol - until an administrative review of the information can be held. Moorman said the preliminary injunction allows time to prepare for the review. If the review does not go in the store's favor, Moorman can file an appeal, but the business would have to close, because it would not have a license.The mayor, also Alton's liquor control commissioner, said the store's attorney's actions didn't surprise him."We knew it was possible," he said.Its owners already have applied for a general business license, but Sandidge said he doesn't want to issue another license of any type."I strongly oppose it. Why let people buy the same crack pipes there?" he asked. "I strongly oppose them having any kind of license."The city also has wanted to close the store because of people loitering nearby, reportedly selling or using drugs and gambling, about which neighbors have complained to police.Moorman said previously that the neighborhood problems in police incident reports are not the fault of the store or its owner."They didn't have anything to do with the owner of this place," Moorman said. "When you get right down to it, they didn't prove their case. This was a first offense and not something the owner himself did."He also said previously that the company president, Mohammad Mahmoud, did not understand the importance of the Alton Liquor Control Commission hearing.City officials said earlier that Central Package had separate business and liquor licenses, with the regular business license that could allow it to stay open but not sell alcohol. This week, though, they said it hasn't had separate licenses since 2005, so losing the liquor license was the same as losing its business license.Sandidge took the actions Monday after receiving a copy of an order from the Illinois Liquor Control Commission denying a rehearing for the store's owner, 9 Brothers Inc. The order says 9 Brothers Inc. has 35 days in which to petition a circuit court for administrative review.Moorman had asked for a rehearing before the Illinois Liquor Control Commission, because on Sept. 3, the panel affirmed Sandidge's decision in June to revoke 9 Brothers' license - for which Moorman had filed an appeal.State commissioners said Sandidge "is justified in that he did not rule against the manifest weight of the evidence by considering aggravating factors that the owner had knowledge of the sale of drug paraphernalia on the licensed premises."It also said Mahmoud, whose brother, Nayef R. Mahmoud of Florissant, Mo., sold the drug paraphernalia, did not deny his employee "committed an act which violated the municipal liquor license."It also said: "The licensee's disclaimer of any knowledge of the sale of drug paraphernalia lacks credibility."Nayef R. Mahmoud, who was charged with felony sale or delivery of drug paraphernalia, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of possession of drug paraphernalia and was fined $200. His brother fired