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Two Cary Restaurants Face Lawsuits After Numerous Complaints

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CARY — Two popular places inCaryto eat, drink, and dance are in the middle of a legal tango that could eventually impact your party plans. Town leaders say they are tired of all the trouble at the nightspots.

Roger Holt lives across the street from Woody's Sports Tavern & Grill and Ben's Jamaican Restaurant on Chapel Hill Road. He says he might as well forget about sleeping on the weekends.

"The music is just unreal sometimes," Holt says. "The noise from the music, it just vibrates your walls. I don't need to be laying there until 4 or 5 in the morning, listening to gun shots, cursing and fussing."

The town of Cary is suing Woody's, Ben's and Curtis Westbrook Sr., the owner of the shopping center. In the last few years, there have been a total of 445 complaints against Woody's and Ben's, which include everything from vandalism to fighting.

Walter Powell, Woody's owner, says the complaints are false. Ben Coley, Ben's owner, says he has not seen any illegal behavior.

Coley says he has done everything the town has asked him to do, including cutting the live music.

"What they really wanted me to do was to close and leave and because I didn't actually do that, they decide to do it themselves," Coley says.

Cary police chief Windy Hunter admits things have gotten better in the last few months. The town just wants to make sure it stays that way.

"We want to assure the public safety," Hunter says. "We want a remedy that will be conducive to that."

The lawsuit would force the businesses to pay fines if any illegal behavior takes place on the premises.

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