By MELISSA PEACOCK

LAPLACE – Less than two hours prior to this week’s St. John the Baptist Parish Council meeting, several local religious leaders were told some council members were not going to vote to change parish alcohol laws.

More than 10 local ministers, members of their congregations and other area residents crowded into the Percy Hebert Building, filling seats like church pews and spilling out into the lobby.

Ordinance 02-80, a controversial proposal banning alcohol sales between 2-6 a.m., was removed from the table. After more than two months of research, debate and delays, the Parish Council was ready for a discussion and a vote.

The ordinance passed with only one dissenting vote cast by Councilman Ranney Wilson.

“We are taking the rights of some people away,” Wilson said.

While Wilson would not support the ordinance with his vote, he said he would be willing to put it on the ballot for the people to decide. That opportunity never came.

Just days later, local religious leaders credited unity for the passage of the ordinance.

“With the power of unity, one can accomplish anything,” Pastor Neil Bernard said.

Bernard is the pastor of New Wine Christian Fellowship in LaPlace. He is also the president of the Nehemiah Project, a coalition of leaders organized to address spiritual, social and economic conditions of the African American community in St. John Parish.

Ten of about 14 Nehemiah leaders attended the meeting in a strong show of support for an ordinance that they believed would impact the whole community – black and white.

“We were told that if it had any chance of passing, the church would have to come out in full force,” Bernard said. “At 5 p.m. they (parish officials) did not expect it to pass. I have been told by a source that prior to the meeting it (the vote) was 3-6.”

Councilman Dale Wolfe placed the ordinance on the agenda in early November. Until this week, he gave no clear indication whether or not he would support it.

“It was premature for me to answer whether I was for or against,” Wolfe said. “My name tomorrow morning may be ‘wretched Dale Wolfe.'”

Wolfe put the item on the agenda at the request of local clergy, but was not sure whether those ministers could muster enough support from political leaders.

“When I put it on the agenda, I was for it,” he said. “You still have to give the people the opportunity to voice their opinions.

“According to the feel of the people at the time, it seemed like it was going down in defeat. Then the ministers and the community pumped up the volume.”

Wolfe and others credit the Rev. Forell Bering Jr., pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church and New Pilgrim Baptist Church for bringing the ordinance back before the council. Bering was one of the ministers who asked Wolfe to put the item on the agenda.

“There was an enormous amount of our young people who literally slept in the day and were awake all night,” Bering said when asked why the ordinance was needed. “We believe that in that type of life there is no profit whereby they can be productive in a work life.”

Bering also listed DWIs, crime, violence and the destruction of families as reasons he and his parishioners requested and supported the ordinance.

“Some of our bar owners reap the benefits, while the families lose,” Bering said. “Whether you drink out of a crystal glass or whether you drink out of a mason jar, a drunk is still a drunk.”

The ordinance will not stop drinking in the parish, but will reduce the hours that residents can purchase and consume alcohol at stores, restaurants and bars. Under the new regulations, only bar employees can be on bar property after 2 a.m.

Stores and restaurant can continue to sell their products into the early hours of the morning – as long as those products do not include alcohol.

While no one is exactly sure how gambling hot spots will be affected by the change, Captain Michael Tregre, of the St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office, said most either close during those hours or have already agreed to comply. The ordinance, he said, will help local law enforcement and the community alike.

“They (officers) like to go home at night the way the go to work – with no injuries,” Tregre said. “Those bars closing allow us to do other things, like more patrols in the neighborhoods and more patrols of businesses.”

Noise, shooting, loitering, and traffic congestion are among the violations reported by neighbors living near local bars everyday, Tregre said.

“We catch drunks in school traffic at 7 in the morning,” he said.

But while some of St. John Parish’s deputies are looking forward to quieter patrols thanks to the new ordinance, other residents are worried about their jobs.

“I pay my bills working in a bar,” one woman told the council. “You have to think about people that pay bills and child support working in these bars.”

Several bar owners said they expect a serious loss of revenue as a result of the change. Some have indicated they will have to either decrease their staff or close their doors altogether.

Local business owners and employees rallied against the ordinance over the last two months, attending council meetings in large numbers.

But at this week’s meeting, when council members asked residents to voice their opinions by a show of hands, more were in favor of the ordinance than against.