By Billy Davis

A restaurant owner has succeeded in overturning a 21-and-over age limit at her Good Times Bar and Grill located near Sardis.

Panola County supervisors voted 5-0 Monday morning to drop the age limit, which had been imposed by the county land commission in September.

Twenty-one is the legal drinking age in Mississippi.

Business owner Patricia Harrell appealed the age limit at the Nov. 14 Board of Supervisors meeting but supervisors tabled the matter. Harrell’s request resurfaced at the Nov. 21 meeting, where the age limit was discussed briefly before a vote was held that overruled the land commission.

Harrell has described Good Times as a family-friendly business that offered pizza and burgers, and games such as checkers and billiards. But she also suggested the business may hold a “lockdown breakfast,” which targets drinking customers late at night.

Some commissioners said they considered Good Times a bar that serves food, which first led to a vote to implement an 18-and-older rule. That vote failed 2-3 and was followed by the 3-2 vote that set the stricter age limit.

In 2007 the land commission, concerned about safety, turned down a pool hall in Courtland on similar grounds.

Harrell had opposed the 18-and-older rule, too, saying that it would hinder teenage customers from coming inside to order food. Proceeds from food and games are the largest moneymakers, she also said.

At the Monday county meeting, board president Gary Thompson noted that there are Batesville restaurants that serve alcohol — he named Chili’s, Pizza Hut and Café Ole — and pointed out that there is no age limit at those businesses.

“At those places you can go in with your family,” Thompson noted. He then suggested that the county board eliminate the 21-and-over rule.

Harrell has said 21-and-over customers would wear a bracelet to identify if they are the legal drinking age.

At Good Times beer is sold to customers from a separate building per Mississippi law.