By Dan Pool

 The Georgia Supreme Court announced last week they will hear an appeal filed by the Blue Rodeo seeking to overturn a 30-day suspension and 12-month probationary period of their liquor license imposed by the City of Jasper.

 In a July 12 document, a clerk from Georgia’s highest court wrote that the court would hear the case of Blue Rodeo owner Scarlett Folsom versus the City of Jasper on grounds of determining whether the city’s ban on alcohol advertising violates Constitutional free speech provisions.

 If the city’s alcohol advertising ban is upheld, the court will also look at “whether even under the less than strict standard that generally applies in commercial speech cases, the [City] has failed to establish a ‘reasonable fit’ between its abridgment of speech and its temperance goal,” Clerk Jeanette Eidson wrote.

 The court will also hear arguments on whether the city’s statute to suspend a liquor/beer serving license “based upon a licensee’s or employee’s violation of Federal or State law” is so vague as to be unconstitutional.

 A press release from the Blue Rodeo Cafe’s attorneys Casey, Gilson, Leibel in Atlanta, stated the ordinance concerning the violation of state and federal law is so overly broad that it isn’t clear what conduct it prohibits.

 The bar/restaurant in question is located on Highway 53 East and is now called Club 53. The owners, however, still operate under a company known as the Blue Rodeo.

 “The ordinance gives the City of Jasper the discretion to revoke an alcohol permit for ‘any violation’ of federal or state law. Thus, the City can revoke the cafe’s alcohol permit if its owners get a speeding ticket, throw litter on a state highway or commit other violations that are unrelated to the cafe’s business,” a  document filed by attorneys Steven K. Leibel and Guy Weiss stated.

 The case against the Blue Rodeo was previously

heard in both an administrative hearing before the Jasper City Council and the Pickens County Superior Court.

 In both venues, the City’s statutes were upheld and the Blue Rodeo’s alcohol serving permit was suspended for  30 days, originally to begin July 1,  and the club had to serve a one year probation period in regard to its liquor license.

 This latest appeal allows the restaurant  to continue serving until the Georgia Supreme Court makes a decision.

 The press release said that the city had singled out the Highway 53 establishment.

 “It is a shame that the City of Jasper has chosen to single out the Blue Rodeo and insist on violating its right to free speech,” attorney Weiss said.

 Mayor John Weaver said he respected the club owners’ right to due process and their appeal, but is confident the city’s ordinances would be upheld.

 He said the ordinances here are drawn from ordinances in use around the state and supplied by state and municipal organizations.

 “These type of ordinances are in place all over the state,” he said. “The city of Jasper, as an entity, didn’t sit down and write them.”

 Weaver said if any technicality is found with them, the city would redraft the ordinances to insure the same objectives are still accomplished.

 “I feel confident that the city of Jasper’s ordinances will prevail,” he said. “The city’s goal is to maintain an environment that the citizens of Jasper have come to expect.”

the only campaign which filed the party’s donation as an individual contribution.

 Also, Osborne noted he is not the treasurer as the disclosure stated, but he is the chairman of the local Republican Party.