Learn rules to know if they're bent

Did you notice, in the Health Department inspections reported in our sister

paper the other day, that Augusta's Rhinehart's Oyster Bar got a 91?

Remember, that's in the diner's old building in Augusta, the one that looks

like a dilapidated, 1940s shack (which part of it is).

Meanwhile, land is being cleared on Belair Road at Owens road for Columbia

County's version of Rhinehart's. Some of the people opposing it claimed the

existing Rhinehart's is nasty and that, by extension, so would the Columbia

County venue.

Sure, cleanliness was a side issue. Mostly the opponents were against

Rhinehart's because they're against alcohol sales, period, or because they

don't want the business next to their neighborhood. The former argument

pretty much died more than a decade ago when a majority of voters in

Columbia County approved alcohol sales; the latter argument fizzled when the

Georgia Department of Transportation turned Belair into a five-lane. Back to

those health-department scores. A neighborhood restaurant just down the

street from the new Rhinehart's, Lotus, scored lower than the existing

Rhinehart's. But Lotus sells alcohol, so maybe that's why, right?

Well, look at another big seafood restaurant in Columbia County, one that

doesn't sell alcohol: T.J. Out-rigger's at Pollard's Corner. Health

inspectors scored its kitchen lower than the existing Rhinehart's, too.

All of these kitchens pass inspections, and there would be no inspections

without standards that we expect businesses to follow. There also are

standards that govern what a business must do to open, and Rhinehart's met

those standards, too.

The owners originally tried to get the rules bent to allow them to get an

alcohol license, and we opposed it. We believe in sticking to the rules.

When they invested in more land to bring the site into compliance with

alcohol laws, they deserved to be granted a license - and were. The land is

now being cleared, and the seafood restaurant should open later this year.

And speaking of seafood, residents around the proposed Kroger-anchored

shopping center near Furys Ferry Road smell something fishy. Those residents

won a minor victory when they kept the development to a reasonable size, but

the county then proposed changes to the growth management plan that would

allow a bigger store anyway.

This smells an awful lot like bending the rules, or at least rewriting them.

The group fighting the bigger-box store certainly thinks so, but in this

case they're also working to educate themselves and other citizens on how

this process works.

The multi-neighborhood coalition called CHANGE (the acronym is too long to

spell out) has set up a seminar with county planning officials for 6-9 p.m.

next Wednesday at the Government Complex Auditorium in Evans. The idea is to

give county officials a chance to explain zoning laws, and provide an

opportunity for citizens to learn how it all works.

Change is hard, but it's much easier to live with if we understand what's

going on. Next Wednesday's seminar could be a good start.