Ezzell v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission

528 S.W.2d 888, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 3117
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 10, 1975
DocketNo. 17669
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 528 S.W.2d 888 (Ezzell v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ezzell v. Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, 528 S.W.2d 888, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 3117 (Tex. Ct. App. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

BREWSTER, Justice.

Joe Ezzell, d/b/a Ezze Mart, made an application for a wine and beer off-premises permit. The premises where the wine and beer were to be sold are located in the City of Wichita Falls, Texas. The neighboring Trinity Baptist Church contested Ezzell’s application. The County Judge of Wichita County entered an order denying the application. The applicant then appealed to the District Court which also denied the application. The District Court decree stated: “The Court . . . finds that there was and is substantial evidence to support the finding of the County Court, and that the Application should be Denied because of the general welfare, health, peace, morals and safety of the people and on the public sense of decency. This Court further finds that the evidence shows that the proposed premises would be located within 300 feet of the Trinity Baptist Church.”

The District Court decree was based on these two reasons. This appeal is from the decree of the District Court.

We affirm.

The appellant’s first point of error is that the trial court erred in finding that the Trinity Baptist Church was within 300 feet of the proposed location of the business that [890]*890was to have this wine and beer retailers off-premises permit.

We overrule that point.

In considering and acting on applications for licenses such as the one involved here the County Judge and the Alcoholic Beverage Commission (formerly the Liquor Control Board) are performing an administrative function. Stone v. Texas Liquor Control Board, 417 S.W.2d 385 (Tex.1967), and State v. Bush, 151 Tex. 606, 253 S.W.2d 269 (1952).

The statute involved is Article 666-25a, Penal Code (Texas Liquor Control Act) which reads as follows:

“The Commissioners’ Court of any county in the territory thereof outside incorporated cities and towns and the governing authorities of any city or town within the corporate limits of any such city or town may prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages by any dealer where the place of business of any such dealer is within three hundred (300) feet of any church, public school or public hospital, the measurements to be along the property lines of the street fronts and from front door to front door and in direct line across intersections where they occur.”

The statute just referred to is merely an enabling statute. Before it would become unlawful to sell alcoholic beverages from a business located within 300 feet of a church within the city limits of Wichita Falls it was necessary for the Wichita Falls City Council to enact an ordinance prohibiting such sales.

During the District Court trial involved here,' no evidence was introduced by anyone relating to the issue of whether or not, prior to the time the permit was denied, the City Council of Wichita Falls had enacted an ordinance such as the one referred to in the last paragraph. The appellant did not offer any evidence to show that the City Council had not enacted such an ordinance and no evidence was offered by anyone tending to show that such an ordinance had been enacted by the City.

If the City Council of Wichita Falls had enacted such an ordinance and if the distance from the front door of the proposed store building for which the permit was sought to the front door of the neighboring Trinity Baptist Church, when measured in the manner provided for in the statute, was less than 300 feet, then the administrative Board’s order denying the permit would have been proper on that ground alone.

Courts do not take judicial notice of city ordinances. They must be proved up during a trial like other facts. See 23 Tex. Jur.2d 81, Evidence, Sec. 12.

Quite a bit of the evidence that was introduced during the District Court trial was on the issue of determining whether or not the front door of the Church was located less than 300 feet from the front door of the building from which the wine and beer were to be sold. The record makes it appear that all parties involved just assumed, without making proof thereof, that Wichita Falls had an ordinance in effect that prohibited the issuance of the permit if the distance between the two doors is less than 300 feet.

The following plat shows the location of the store building where the permit was to be used with reference to the location of the neighboring Trinity Baptist Church and the measurements of the distances that are involved.

[891]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion
Texas Attorney General Reports, 2002
Opinion No.
Texas Attorney General Reports, 2002

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
528 S.W.2d 888, 1975 Tex. App. LEXIS 3117, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ezzell-v-texas-alcoholic-beverage-commission-texapp-1975.