Montgomery council approves alcohol license for Bama Lanes

The Montgomery City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to grant a new restaurant alcohol license for Bama Lanes after its owner assured councilors that he has beefed up security in the wake of a shooting earlier this year.

Six people were injured and one killed early Jan. 9 when an argument at the Atlanta Highway bowling center escalated to gunfire. Tory Johnson, 23, was later charged with murder in the death of Jeffrey Reed, 21, and six counts of assault.

"At the time of the incident we had an off-duty city policeman sitting right outside the front door, armed, in a car," owner Steve Lander said. "... We were doing everything right that night. It’s just one of those incidents that’s been happening too much here and everywhere.

"It’s a horrible incident. It’s devastated our business. We’re trying to survive, and hang on, and do the best we can under the circumstances, but it’s been a tough go."

The bowling center has had a license to sell alcohol for decades, most of that time under Lander. But he leased the center to a third party for a short time before taking over again, and that change required him to request a new license.

Previously: What's next? Bama Lanes, Blue Iguana still open after Prattville refuses to renew business licenses

The council held a public hearing on the request before voting, and one person spoke against the request, citing the busy street in front of the center and possible traffic dangers.

Lander told council members that since January he's added more security inside and hired a separate security service to manage the parking lot. "We don’t let people hang around out there," he said. "We even had a few of our employees that were hanging around that got ran back into the building the other night and complained about it."

Lander has clashed with Prattville officials in the past over a separate Bama Lanes in that city and its neighboring Blue Iguana bar, which he also owns. The two businesses share a door and each has a restaurant liquor license. Prattville Police Chief Mark Thompson has said he wants the bar to apply for a lounge liquor license, citing more calls to police recently from the shopping center.

Prattville Mayor Bill Gillespie said in January that the city would not renew the business licenses for Bama Lanes or The Blue Iguana but that there were no plans at the time to immediately shut down either business for lack of a proper license. Both sides would continue talking, he said at the time: "If this level of cooperation continues, I think we can address everyone's concerns."

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brad Harper at bharper1@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Bama Lanes liquor license gets approval from council with extra security