Weekly sued over denial of beer license for store

Angela Soo

Wednesday, Aug. 29, 2001 | 10:41 a.m.

Two convenience store owners have sued the city of Las Vegas and Councilman Lawrence Weekly in federal court after they were denied the transfer of a license to sell beer and wine.

The license was denied as part of Weekly's crusade to crack down on convenience stores that sell household products packaged for use as drug paraphernalia.

Store owners Ki Suk and Suk Ja Son are asking the court to force the city to grant the transfer. The Sons also allege Weekly falsely accused them of shooting a girl in Los Angeles.

The City Council denied the Sons' application May 16 to transfer their liquor license to their new convenience store location, 1218 D St., near Washington Avenue, from their prior location of nearly 10 years, the Jackson Market, 1312 F St.

The council denied the application because household items, Weekly said, frequently used as drug paraphernalia, such as small plastic bags, single razor blades and thumb-size copper Brillo pads, were found in the new store.

Mayor Oscar Goodman and Councilman Larry Brown voted against the denial.

Matthew Callister, the Sons' attorney, said the merchandise was left by the previous owner, Dale Lewis, who sold the store to the Sons with the inventory.

In a May 2 City Council meeting, Lewis admitted that the items were his.

"The deal I made with Mr. Son was, you take this whole deal here, I take my hat and I'm gone," Lewis said. "I know there was three or four boxes of 'em in the inventory when I left the store, and I didn't want him (Son) to get the heat for what we were doing."

When the City Council conducted a surprise inspection on May 16 and found the items, the Sons were not opened for business yet because they were still in the process of renovating their store, Callister said.

"They were never given any prior notice of the city's intent to enforce a ban on the paraphernalia," Callister said. "There was also no evidence that the Sons had ever attempted to sell those items."

In order to further justify denying the Sons' application, Weekly accused the Sons of shooting a teen in Los Angeles.

"They weren't good business people in Los Angeles," Weekly said at the meeting. "They have a situation where they were in Los Angeles ... let's put it out there ... where they actually shot a kid."

Korean American liquor store owner Soon Ja Du was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the highly publicized 1991 shooting death of 15-year-old Latasha Harlins during a dispute over a bottle of orange juice, according to Los Angeles Times articles. The Sons owned a convenience store in Los Angeles at the time.

"The Sons are devastated by the whole process," Callister said. "To be falsely accused by a council member for shooting a kid in L.A. that they had no part or control over is devastating. The City Council's decision was racially motivated and in blatant violation of the Sons' Constitutional rights."

Weekly declined to comment on the pending lawsuit or the allegation.

The Sons are suing for an unspecified amount, but claim they have suffered severe emotional distress and substantial losses in their business.