Wooden who owns the Little Italy restaurant in the village applied for an on premise beer permit back in June of 2019. His application was denied by the beer board, on advice of the beer board attorney.

His case was heard last month in Loudon County Chancery Court and was dismissed due to the time passed since the application was denied by the Loudon County Beer Board.

Many years ago, Loudon County adopted their current beer permit regulations that include the 2000' rule. This means that a beer permit shall not be issued within 2000' of a church, school, daycare or any other place of public gathering. Little Italy was well within 2000' feet of the Tellico Village library. In a previous court case in Sevier County, a library was ruled a place of public gathering. Given that case law, the board attorney advised the board to deny.

Under the law, the restaurant owner had 60 days to file an appeal with the court. Of course, the appeal is far beyond the 60 day period.

Below is a link to the dismissal.

Click Here to Read Dismissal