NAS Pensacola bans military members from Wild Greg's Saloon over drug, sex allegations
NAS Pensacola Base Commander Capt. Chandra 'Mamasan' Newman designated Wild Greg's Saloon and a Gulf Beach Highway convenience store known as Pharaoh Grocery as off limits to all military service members assigned to NAS Pensacola. As of last week, the designation was going to be distributed to all Navy installations in the Southeast United States.
The decision was made after a unanimous vote of the base's Armed Forces Disciplinary Control Board. The board found numerous cases alleging underage drinking, cocaine and other drugs being distributed, with service members gaining access to the drugs, witnesses seeing multiple people use drugs in bathroom stalls, fake or altered IDs being accepted, and sex acts in bathrooms.
Newman notified the city of Pensacola about the decision on July 30 in an email to Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves. The News Journal obtained a copy of the email in a public records request.
Wild Greg's Saloon has had a reputation for rowdiness and aggressive staff. The owner of the saloon lost a lawsuit against the city last year alleging he was falsely arrested in 2018 after being acquitted on a charge of obstructing an investigation into an alleged assault by a bouncer.
The Pharaoh Grocery on Gulf Beach Highway was blacklisted for selling alcohol to underage service members and employees selling illicit drugs from behind the counter to service members, Newman said.
Newman also said that Mojo's was sent a warning letter over the sale of 'huffing gas and other mind-altering substances' to service members.
'Our intent is not to do harm to local businesses, and we want healthy, positive relationships with our community,' Newman wrote. 'We ask local businesses help us help sailors make responsible decisions, mitigate risks, have fun, and ultimately protect our military readiness through active mitigations when our concerns are voiced.'
Newman said the Navy provided warnings to both businesses in January and met with Wild Greg's owner Greg Urban in April, but neither business had addressed the military's concerns.
'We will continue to review these two establishments every quarter until we have a reasonable 'try, then trust' standard we can expect them to support,' Newman wrote.
The News Journal reached out to Wild Greg's Saloon for comment, but no one was immediately available for comment.
Reeves told the News Journal that he was disappointed that Wild Greg's 'continues to threaten the safety and well-being of our community.'
'We hope that this action by our local military officials — action we completely support — leads to operational change that prioritizes our community, our law enforcement officers, and our downtown patrons,' Reeves said. 'We have many quality establishments in Pensacola where our residents and visitors can have a good time and do it lawfully and safely. These types of consistent issues reaching this point cannot and should not be tolerated.'
This article originally appeared on Pensacola News Journal: NAS Pensacola bans military service members from Wild Greg's Saloon
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