Macon-Bibb County files for permanent closure of M&M Grocery
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — Macon-Bibb County is asking the superior court to have M&M Grocery on Montpelier Avenue permanently closed due to the reemergence of conditions that threaten public safety, and for the store violations of conditions in a court order placed against it in October of 2022.
The hearing to follow up the county’s filing of this request is scheduled to happen at 9:30 a.m. on June 22nd. The Judge has modified the original order to the store to require it to close at 8:00 p.m. instead of 11 p.m., and the Bibb County Sheriff’s Office will be letting M&M Grocery know that all its alcohol licenses are temporarily revoked for up to 90 days.
In the release about this filing from Macon-Bibb County, its mentioned that since 2016, more than 894 emergency 911 calls have been placed from the store, making it to where the BCSO has had to regularly patrol the area. There are 75 cases that go back to 2019 that include homicides, car theft, stabbings, shootings, and drug sales.
When the store was closed in 2022, it was allowed to reopen under certain court-ordered conditions, including: the defendants were responsible for the premises and to take proactive steps to prevent loitering and gatherings, they could only operate between the hours of 6 a.m. and 11 p.m., and the defendants were required to call for law enforcement assistance any time a person not conducting business with the store stayed on the premises for longer than ten minutes.
It’s Georgia law that any nuisance that tends to the immediate annoyance of the public or is manifestly injurious to the public health or safety and tends greatly to corrupt the manners and morals of the public may be abated by the order of a judge or superior court– the county is asking that the court follows through on this and permanently closes the store.
Mayor Lester Miller had this to say about the store:
“When the owners of the store complied with the order, we saw a significant decrease in crime in the area and the nearby neighborhoods,”… “However, since March, we have seen crime in the area continue to rise, and that’s in direct correlation with them not complying with the Order.”
