Jacksonville, AL – On February 28, 2022, the Jacksonville City Council voted unanimously to temporarily suspend/revoke the business license for JMK, LLC., doing business as XHale Hookah Lounge due to city code violations. The full hearing was scheduled for March 14, 2022, where evidence could be presented and the XHale Hookah Lounge would be able to offer a defense. XHale is located on Hwy 21 just outside the city limits of Jacksonville but still inside the Jacksonville Police Department’s jurisdiction. See original article.
The Jacksonville City Council held its regularly scheduled public meeting on March 14, 2022, and addressed the revocation. During the public comments section of the city council meeting Manuel Santana, owner of XHale Hookah Lounge, spoke directly to the council. Santana stated, “I’m here to address the events that happened February 28 and I’m here to be accountable for the failures we had in security, failures we had in compliance with your fire code and our safety plan. I don’t negate the guilt of failure.” Santana discussed some of the allegations that have been brought against the lounge and admitted that many failures occurred since their opening. He asked that the council and the Jacksonville community for a chance to redeem themselves and show the community they will make the changes necessary. Santana also addressed the refusal to allow Jacksonville police to conduct a bar check and why the police were denied entry to the bar. He stated, “I understand there was a miscommunication between us and the chief as far as the entry. I did state that if they were going to do a bar check seeing that we are not a bar but a lounge. But if they were to check my liquor and my licenses, that they be accompanied by ABC, that way, my record keeping would be accurate and forthright, if ABC were to add citations.” Throughout Santana’s speech to the council, he addressed issues that have been called into question and offered solutions that would be implemented in the future.
Upon the conclusion of the public comments Chief Marcus Wood presented the City Council with the evidence gathered during their investigation and complaints filed against the establishment. Chief Wood opened by presenting officer worn body cam footage on February 26 when Jacksonville attempted their first bar check. The audio and video clearly showed Mr. Santana denying access to the officers. When the video ended Chief Wood gave supporting documents to the Council showing where Santana acknowledged the laws applicable for liquor license owners. One section of the document read, “…also agrees that they hereby invite duly authorized agents of the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board and any duly commissioned law enforcement officer, whether it be state, county or municipality in which the licensed premises are located to enter and search without warrant the licensed premises, or any building owned or occupied by him or in connection with a set of licensed premises.” Chief Wood then addressed that the document was initialed by Mr. Santana and had a notarized signature at the end of the document affirming that he had read all of the regulations and requirements.
The second violation addressed was in regard to the “Life and Safety Plan” being over capacity. The required plan that was submitted to the State Fire Marshall and the City of Jacksonville was a maximum capacity of 94 people, including the staff. Chief Wood stated, “We counted 254 people, on the low end because there were some other people who did sneak out the back and side door, 254 people that came out of his establishment. That’s 160 people over the allowed people that he’s supposed to have his business on the life and safety point.” The Chief then discussed the criminal charges for reckless endangerment. He stated, “Alabama code section 13, a 6.4. Reckless Endangerment is ‘a person commits a crime of reckless endangerment, he recklessly engages in the conduct, which creates some sense of risk for serious physical injury to another person’, which is a Class A misdemeanor in the state of Alabama”. The Chief discussed the public comments about the police department conducting a “targeted investigation” and said it was not. There were many public complaints about the business as well as officers observing illegally parked cars along HWY 21 and the surrounding area. The Chief went on to say “we didn’t charge him with 160 counts of reckless endangerment in which we could have, he only got one charge of reckless endangerment. So I think we’ve been very, very favorable for him. And somebody who’s targeting him, would not give him that leeway, and give him the chance to not have all those charges.”
The next item that the Chief presented was an incident/offense report taken on February 19, 2022. A Jacksonville resident called into the police department about loud music and requested officers respond. He went on to discuss other complaints that did not result in a formal report being taken but still involved officers going out to the area to investigate.
The Chief then discussed trespassing on private property and illegal & dangerous parking around the XHale Hookah Lounge. He presented officer in car camera footage as they responded to a call. The video showed extremely heavy illegal parking along HWY 21. The Chief stated, “I can remember at one time where I had to slam on my brakes because a patron had stopped in the right lane to try and parallel park on the side of the road.” The video also showed multiple vehicles parked on private property, not belonging to the lounge. There was an incident where a private property owner attempted to ask a patron of the XHale Hookah Lounge not to park on their property. The patron then pulled a gun out of her purse and stated she could park anywhere she wanted to and proceeded into the establishment.
The next topic that the Chief discussed was the illegal narcotics and firearm located inside the establishment on Feb 26/27 after they were able to gain entry to the building. Police and ABC located a large amount of illegal narcotics in “plain view” that appeared to be left behind by patrons as they attempted to leave during the bar check. A large amount of marijuana in a grocery bag, multiple smaller bags of marijuana, and ecstasy tablets. During the bar check they were also able to locate a loaded firearm that a patron is believed to have left behind.
The presentation was concluded with information that was secured via social media outlets in the area. Chief Wood was able to show specific conversations about the lounge and how some patrons were talking about the underage drinking at the establishment with one making a direct reference to a 14 year old drinking a “henny margarita.”
The next person to present evidence against XHale Hookah Lounge was Mike Reese with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board (ABC). Investigator Reese started by saying this was a serious matter with the ABC Board as well and an investigation is also occurring with them into the business. Investigator Reese stated, “We have received numerous complaints, at our office, from citizens of Jacksonville, we have received complaints from the police department”. He supported Chief Wood’s complaint that any law enforcement officer is able to conduct a bar check and it did not need to be an ABC investigator. He also said it was a “very serious offence” to not allow the officers into the establishment. “Serious enough, alone, he will have a hearing in Montgomery.
Investigator Reese informed the Council that they were working in the area conducting bar checks and advised Jacksonville officers to conduct a bar check at approximately 1:15 am. The officers were refused entry at that time so ABC and two marked ALEA agents proceeded to the establishment. Agent Doug Porch was the first to arrive at the door and was met by Mr. Santana. Investigator Reese said, “He was held up by Mr. Santana and he says, if you’re not ABC, you’re not coming in. He just pushed back against Santana and went in. I was probably eighth or ninth in line and when I got there, there were people already starting to flood out of the club.
During their bar inspection it was described as being very chaotic inside the building. ABC had to slow the inspection due to the amount of people attempting to leave the building, but they were later to identify “notable” ABC violations. One of the violations was due to the type of license that XHale Hookah Lounge had. A lounge license is able to sell drinks by the glass where they were found to be selling whole bottle of liquor to patrons. Another violation was identified as agents and officer’s outside were checking ID’s; they did locate an 18 year old girl that had been inside. In Alabama, patrons must be at least 19 to enter a lounge but still must be 21 or older to consume alcoholic beverages. The 4th violation was identified when a DJ was seen taking a bottle of liquor from the lounge and brining it to his vehicle. ABC spoke with the DJ and learned that he had personally brought the bottle to the establishment, which is a violation. Investigator Reese stated, “You’re not allowed to bring alcohol into an ABC establishment. He brought it in, he admitted he brought it in. Very expensive bottle of whiskey. He brought it in, and we confiscated it.”
Upon the completion of the presentation of the evidence the public was able to make comments. Manuel Santana and three others chose to speak during this segment.
Mr. Santana addressed the Council by starting with, “I just wanted to state again that we are not pushing the narrative of targeting or discrimination or anything like that. It’s just a matter of mindset failing. This is a matter of my staff failing and me failing. This is a matter of me asking for a chance to redeem myself in your eyes and the eyes of the city. A chance to rehire security, actual security, licensed security.” Santana reiterated his comments from earlier and advised he was working hard to make the changes that are needed. He acknowledged that “many points were proven, and many failures were proven. He concluded with “We just want a chance to redeem ourselves.”
The DJ, Christopher Moore, from the lounge, was next to address the Council. He spoke about the illegal bottle of liquor that was brought into the establishment. Moore stated, “It was me that brought the bottle in, from my home of course”, “I wasn’t aware that it was illegal”. He explained that now he understands that it is illegal and would not do that again.
Olivia Santana, Manual Santana’s wife, spoke next. Mrs. Santana spoke to the Council to advocate for her husband and the amount of hard work he has put into the lounge. She also explained that the operating without a city license was due to them being “instructed by ABC board that because we were outside the city limits that we did not have to have a city license we only had to have a county license, which we did have at the time.”
The final speaker was an employee of the XHale Hookah Lounge, India. She addressed the council and also requested that they get another chance to open. She opened her comments with, “I work at the bar, I know for a fact that I don’t serve underage people, but it doesn’t affect their friends buying them, you know, alcohol and stuff like that. Like he said, you know, security fell through but, you know, also with the bad comments there’s positive stuff too. Everybody liked it there. There’s different cities that don’t like each other but when they were there they had a great time.” She explained that she was unaware that they were unable to sell full bottles of alcohol instead of single drinks only. “Pure and other clubs sell bottles as well so we didn’t know we couldn’t sell bottles.” said India. She also addressed the narcotics and weapons issues with the council by stating, “Also with the things that were found, of course they left it there because they thought they were going to be searched by the police. Of course stuff being found there, it wasn’t on us though even though its illegal, yes we know that, we take accountability for everything that was there but, personally we just want a second chance to show you it’s not going to happen no more.”
The Jacksonville City Council did not make a vote on the current suspension/revocation last night an adjourned to an executive session. At this time the suspension is still in effect and will remain that way until the council determines that it should be brought back to the agenda. We did speak to the City Council, and this is what they had to say about the hearing:
Councilman Andy Green stated, “It’s obvious that X-hale Hookah Lounge is a popular entertainment establishment. The concerns and violations shared with the council from Chief Wood and the Alabama Beverage Control Board are serious enough to warrant careful review to ensure the safety of the patrons and the protection of adjacent properties.”Councilman Terry Wilson said, “I was very impressed with the professionalism of the Jacksonville Police Department and Chief Wood. The presentation was complete. Our job is to protect the people of Jacksonville and to make Jacksonville better and a safer place to live.” Councilman Tony Taylor said, “I felt that both sides had an opportunity to speak and share the facts. Chief Wood had a great presentation with video and complete background. I also want to note that the city did a lot to help this business. We had a special called meeting to grant his business license and many city staff sat with him to make sure he understood the rules and regulations. I also want to say I’m not against any hookah lounge, even though I didn’t personally frequent the business. The problem was that it became more than that, more than what it was representing to be. I did explain that officially the license is revoked. If the city decided to consider reissuing the license it would be added to the next council meeting agenda. If that is not entertained, it would be considered a dead issue and the revocation would stand. We would inform the business owner if the issues will not be considered for further action. Councilwoman Sherry Laster stated, “Chief Wood make a solid presentation as did the ABC Board. Without those videos and pictures, we wouldn’t have had a clear understanding of what really was happening. The city supports businesses and growth, but we have to act in the best interest of the city as a whole and not just one business. This type of behavior can’t happen in Jacksonville.” Councilman Coty Galloway said, “Chief Wood and the ABC Board did a very good job and had a good presentation that was very thorough. I also appreciate Mr. Santana being there and acknowledging the mistakes that took place. ”
