Pizza Hut can serve beer, thanks to pastor

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

More than four decades after opening in Hillsboro, Pizza Hut can now serve its customers a beer.

Until Tuesday, the restaurant was banned from serving beer because city code prevents cereal malt beverage from being served within 200 feet of any school, college, or church.

Pizza Hut is within 200 feet of Hillsboro United Methodist Church.

Although no one from Pizza Hut came to talk to city council members Tuesday, the pastor of the church came to advocate letting Pizza Hut sell beer.

Ben Hanne said he considered Pizza Hut to be responsible and was impressed during the pandemic that it required masks to be worn longer than other businesses did.

He said he considered the restaurant a good neighbor.

Councilman David Loewen made his discomfort known when he said he didn’t drink.

“The consumption of alcohol is a personal decision,” Mayor Lou Thurston said.

Thurston said Hillsboro Development Corp. had spent time trying to recruit a restaurant that would serve beer because Hillsboro hotels said they were losing business.

Council members also approved also an ordinance that permits cereal malt beverage to be served on city-owned property. This amendment permits beer to be sold at the fairgrounds.

In other business, Hillsboro Fire Department can now recruit more than 25 firefighters for the department.

Before council members approved the change, the fire department was allowed a chief, an assistant chief, and not less than 10 nor more than 25 firefighters.