Business owner was 'trying to embarrass the city' with controversial sign, city official says

HAPEVILLE, Ga. — For Hapeville city officials, it's a 4-by-8-foot embarrassment that refuses to go away. But businessman Joshua McArthur Patton says the sign he erected in front of his nightclub and eatery earlier this year is his way of bringing attention to his inability to get a liquor license because he catered mostly to African-Americans.

The sign, which sits across the railroad tracks from the international automaker Porsche’s test-driving complex, says the mayor and council “don’t want blacks” in the city. It’s a jarring monument for motorists traveling along North Central Avenue where Patton’s club is sandwiched coincidentally between two liquor stores. The $350 sign has drawn local media and international attention and gawkers who come almost daily to take pictures.

The nightclub is a 13,000-square-foot brick facility built to look like a castle. It drew rappers including Young Jeezy and TV personalities from “The Housewives of Atlanta.”

Patton, 64, is a former Marine who said he was once a bodyguard to Sylvester Stallone and Chuck Norris. He said the city, and more recently a Fulton County Superior Court judge, denied him a liquor license for his business, and he is weighing his options, including possibly suing the city. He said he was open for just two months in 2015 before closing.

“I’ve never caused the city of Hapeville no problems,” he said. “They’ve approved over 200 liquor licenses since 2000 and I’m the only one they deny.”

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Patton has been in Hapeville since 1994, when he opened a pool hall that drew workers from the nearby Ford motor plant, now home to Porsche. That venture later grew into a nightclub business. Patton estimates that he’s spent “tens of thousands of dollars” in building permits to construct the facility and about $3.5 million total to develop his 10-acre property. He said his efforts have been met with repeated threats from various city officials over the years, saying "We don’t want your kind here.”

But city officials insist that they are good stewards of their city of about 6,800, at the edge of Atlanta Hartsfield International Airport. City manager William Whitson said the “health, safety and community would not be well-served” if the city granted Patton a liquor license. He said there were concerns about safety.

Whitson also disputed Patton’s claims of racial prejudice, saying the city has a diverse population. He also said it's not the city’s attempt to try to get the site away from Patton because of its prime location next to Porsche.

“This gentleman was trying to embarrass the city into giving him an alcohol license,” Whitson told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday. “It’s unfortunate Mr. Patton has chosen to exercise his First Amendment rights in this distasteful way. But we respect his right do so.”

The sign lists the names of 18 people, including Whitson, the mayor, members of the city council and other elected leaders.

Cox Media Group