[6/11/04]ROLLING FORK Cedric Bell believes his plan for a new nightclub here has inspired a new church but only for the purpose of invoking zoning rules.

“They’ve never held service there,” Bell said Wednesday as he gestured to a house-like, one-story building at 20073 U.S. 61 South, adorned with a sign proclaiming it “Church of the Holy Ghost.”

Bell’s property is at 20019 U.S. 61 South, and, since it’s within 300 feet of the church, it cannot open.

The debate is shaping over who got there first and when the matter will go to court.

Records show the Secretary of State’s Office approved the church’s religious nonprofit status before Bell sought his privilege license to sell alcohol, said attorney Charles Weissinger, who filed the charter for the church May 27.

Anne Weissinger, 310 E. Race St., is listed as the incorporator on forms filed with the Secretary of State.

“The issue is chronology,” said Charles Weissinger, Sharkey County’s prosecuting attorney and a former member of the state House of Representatives. No office or mailing address is listed on the forms. County tax records show Robert “Neal” Holcomb as the property’s owner. Holcomb purchased the building from Reality Plantation Corp. on April 2. Holcomb could not be reached.

City Clerk Dorothy Pearson initially denied Bell’s application for a privilege license, citing the city ordinance prohibiting sale of alcohol in a building located within 300 feet of a church or school, but the Board of Alderman overruled Pearson’s decision June 1.

City Attorney Allen Woodard said Bell’s building permit, which he obtained before the church was recognized by the state, also authorized Bell to receive a privilege license.

A lawsuit is the only thing that could delay the club’s opening, Woodard said.

Weissinger did not know what the church’s next move might be. “It’s never been discussed,” he said.

“If someone wants to put a nice restaurant next door, I’m sure the church would welcome them,” Weissinger said.

However, if Bell’s establishment sold beer or light wine “that would be an obvious breach of the law,” Weissinger said.

In the meantime, Bell plans to open his nightclub during the Fourth of July weekend. He is three weeks into a $93,000 renovation project that will turn a former Ford dealership into Club Roc-A-Fella Sports Bar and Grill.

The nightclub will be modeled on establishments he frequented while working in Dallas, Bell said as he pointed to a space where a waterfall would be installed. He wants to attract “a respectable crowd.”

“I thought it would be a good thing, putting a city club in the South,” he said. “It’s not going to be a thuggin’ club. There will be lots of security.”

Bell also plans to open a restaurant and rent the building for family reunions and conventions.

Bell said the Church of the Holy Ghost has been active on the last two Sundays, just not in a religious sense.

“(Weissinger’s) family parks his vehicles at the church and comes back and picks them up at 5:30,” Bell said.

Weissinger said he was not aware of his cars being parked at the church, though he conceded it could have happened.

“I only live a block from there. My children could have done that,” Weissinger said.

The church’s religious practices are irrelevant to its legality, Weissinger said. “This is a lot more church than most churches in town,” he said. “Most churches have never even bothered to incorporate as a nonprofit.”