City Councilmen Debate Twin Peaks, Animal Control Ordiance
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Montgomery city council was held this evening and there were some hot button issues on the agenda.
After biker-related gang violence at a Twin Peaks Restaurant in Waco, Texas left nine men dead, Montgomery city leaders were on alert. Twin Peaks will soon open in the Eastchase shopping center and a representative of the chain came to city council to apply for a liquor license.
“What we thought we would do is just delay it two weeks and have our police department and the franchisee have an understanding that we want to make sure that we all cooperate and we don’t want any issues like that,” said Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange. “And that meeting took place today.”
Montgomery Police Chief Ernest Finley has been in talks with the owner of Montgomery’s franchise and says he’s been nothing but cooperative.
“When we have genuine credible information on public safety issues, we need their cooperation, not only for this business but for the community as a whole.”
In the end, Montgomery’s Twin Peaks was granted its liquor license.
The council also voted to amend its animal control ordinance. It’s the first step in creating what the mayor calls a “one-stop shop” for animal control.
“The main driver of this is really to put the county and the city operations together under the humane society, which at the end of the day has animals at their heart.”
The Humane Society will take over animal control within city limits, which is currently handled by the Montgomery Police Department. City officials say the consolidation will save them up to 200 thousand dollars.
And finally, no action was taken on an ordinance that would rename Holcombe Street in Montgomery to Whitehurtst Jr. Street, after Bernard Whitehurst, who was killed by Montgomery police in the 70s.
Police shot him after they wrongly believed he was involved in a robbery.
“It’s not that they’re trying to change or cause any friction with anyone regarding changing the street name, however they would prefer that it was renamed that just to keep his memory alive,” says Tafaka Webster, a friend of the Whitehurst family.
Those who support the name change and those who don’t have been debating the matter for weeks.
“We grew up on Holcombe Street,” says Rosa Moses. “We can not help that he was killed on Holcombe Street.” The issue was carried over until the next council meeting.
