# Lowery v. Oklahoma Alcoholic Beverage Control Board

> Supreme Court of Oklahoma · September 19, 1978 · 584 P.2d 720

URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9542153

## Case

- **Full name:** Louis George LOWERY, Appellee, v. OKLAHOMA ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL BOARD, Appellant
- **Court:** Supreme Court of Oklahoma
- **Decided:** September 19, 1978
- **Citations:** 584 P.2d 720; 1978 OK 120; 1978 Okla. LEXIS 483
- **Precedential status:** Published
- **Opinion:** Concurrence by Irwin
- **Judges:** Berry, Hodges, Lavender, Williams, Barnes, Simms, Doolin, Irwin
- **Cited by:** 9 later opinions in the Frix Law Library

## Citator (automated)

- No negative treatment found by the automated citator. That is not the same as a confirmation that the case is good law; read the citing cases.
- Full citator and citing cases: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9542153

## Opinion text

IRWIN, Justice,
concurring specially:
In AMF Tuboscope Company v. Hatchel, Okl., 547 P.2d 374 (1976) we said that the Legislature will not be presumed to have intended an absurd result, and a statute should be given a sensible construction, bearing in mind the evils intended to be avoided or the remedy afforded.
The Legislature, in providing that a retail package store shall not be located within 300 feet of a church or school, established the minimum distance without reference to the actual size of a block. It did not provide a standard definition for a “block”. Therefore, in my opinion, the word “block” must be given a reasonable interpretation depending upon the facts and circumstances of a particular case.
In my judgment, when the legislature provided that a “license shall not be issued for a location on any city or town block where a school or church is located”, that it did not intend and did not include within the word “block” a tract of land comprising approximately 400 acres.

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/cases/9542153. Public record. Not legal advice.