McChevron approved with separating wall

Erin Neff

Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999 | 11:18 a.m.

Would you like fries with that six pack?

You can get the two together in about two weeks at the first hybrid convenience store-McDonald's restaurant in the city of Las Vegas thanks to a majority council approval Wednesday of the store's liquor and slot machine licenses.

The McChevron, as the Terrible Herbst product at Ann and Drexel roads in the city's northwest is called, was to open for business today but must wait to turn on its gaming machines and fill the beer and wine coolers until a wall is built inside to separate the happy hour shoppers from the Happy Meal eaters.

About a dozen residents passionately argued that having beer and wine sales in the same building where children slide and climb in the McDonald's Playland area is morally dangerous.

"I think that Ronald McDonald would be ashamed," said Carol LeDuc, speaking on behalf of Sheep Mountain Homeowners Association.

Louise Reckamp worried that the first real commercial development to the largely rural northwest part of town could either be a successful neighbor or a dangerous trend.

"If they grant the license for the beer and wine ... I will not go there," she said.

Councilwoman Lynette Boggs McDonald cast the lone vote in opposition of the license requests and use permits, citing her own rambunctious 3-year-old son who likes McDonald's restaurants.

When the debate began it seemed she had support from Mayor Oscar Goodman and Councilman Gary Reese to deny the permits.

But Reese seemed swayed by Councilman Michael McDonald's arguments that parents, not the government, should be responsible for children's behavior.

Goodman said this was the first issue over which he "agonized," but voted in favor of the permits because of a required separation wall between the McDonald's portion of the building and the Chevron convenience store.

"I think we kid ourselves," Goodman said, referring to the children excuse for denying the permits even though gaming and alcohol sales permeate other convenience and grocery stores. "I think we're being intellectually dishonest."

As soon as the 4-foot-high wall with glass partition above it is constructed, the McChevron can begin selling alcohol and offering video poker.

Jerry Herbst, owner of the Terrible Herbst chain, which has 50 convenience stores with gas stations in the valley, said he simply wanted a level playing field.

The Texaco station on the other side of Ann Road, he argued, had gaming and alcohol sales and several tables where customers can eat deli and grilled foods prepared there.

Nationwide there are 400 McChevrons. Terrible Herbst owns five of the six already in place throughout the Las Vegas Valley.

But this was the first time the Las Vegas City Council was asked to consider the policy questions raised by such hybrid uses.

Attorneys representing Terrible Herbst, however, said they had planned the McChevron on Ann Road for about five years and were stunned to learn neighbors objected to a convenience store selling products common in all Herbst locations.

Councilman Larry Brown said that if the McChevron wasn't already built and ready to open, "I would have a lot of concerns" with the hybrid concept.