The Tifton City Council recently approved eight amendments to the city’s alcoholic beverage ordinance to clarify rules regulating the consumption of alcoholic beverages and make the ordinance easier for law enforcement to interpret.

Greg Sowell, the city attorney, said that he had talked with Chief Jim Smith of the Tifton Police Department concerning some of the problems that local law enforcement has encountered with the alcohol ordinance.

“The whole purpose of this is to make the work of the law enforcement easier,” Sowell said. “As with all laws, from time to time they need to be revisited and updated.”

Sowell said that he wanted to make it clear that none of the changes would alter the procedures and requirements for being able to sell liquor by the drink. All the changes were essentially made to clarify the ordinance and its purpose.

The first change made dealt with the definition of a “bar.”

“The term bar had never been defined, so you had various establishments in the community known by different names.” Sowell said.

In the first amendment, the term “bar” is defined as being anything that does not meet the requirements of being defined as a restaurant, private club or licensed alcoholic beverage caterer.

The second amendment was issued to clarify circumstances where alcohol could be served on public property. Prior to the amendment, the ordinance stated that there could be no alcohol served on public property. It now states that if an event is sponsored by a state or other government agency, alcoholic consumption is allowed.

This question came up this year when the governor’s annual Tourism Conference was hosted in Tifton.

The third amendment provides that a person who is not of legal age cannot be anywhere that an on-premise consumption license is being used.

The fourth amendment deleted a provision which stated that in the case of a revoked license on a property, a new license could not be applied for.

According to Sowell, this is in the case that a property has had an alcoholic beverage license revoked and the premises have been sold to a new owner. In that case, the new owner would be permitted to apply for a new license since the new owner could not be held accountable for the previous owner’s mistake.

The fifth amendment clarified the mode of measuring the legal distance that premises with an alcoholic beverage license can be from a school, church or college.

In general, the rule has always been 300 feet as defined by the state; however, in the past there have been many different ways to measure it including measuring along sidewalks, along streets and from property lines.

“We adopted the regulations of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax Division of the Georgia Department of Revenue,” Sowell said. “It measures in a straight line from the front door of the premises to the front door of the school, college or church.”