BARNESVILLE, Ga. — After 70 years in business, a restaurant in a small Georgia town is shutting its doors.
“I am no longer willing to [do] business in Lamar County or the City of Barnesville," the owner of The Country Kitchen posted on social media.
The seafood buffet restaurant first opened in 1955. Over the last year, they renovated and restored the building that they call a “historic landmark.”
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A few weeks ago, the owner says an employee became upset called the Lamar County Health Department about an issue with a septic tank.
City and county officials came out to the restaurant.
The owner says that when an employee from Lamar County Public Works got out of the car, he "immediately began verbally cursing at my young female employees, asking who owned the [expletive] business and stating that he was going to shut the [expletive] business down and that they needed to get in their [expletive] cars and go home."
The owners say they plan to file a police report.
“This behavior toward my employees was completely unacceptable and unprofessional," they wrote.
County officials confirmed the restaurant had a septic issue that needed to be fixed. The owner says it was fixed and repaired the same day, but they remained closed for the weekend.
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On Friday, a health department official returned to the restaurant and found “a small amount of sewer material” near the septic tank.
The restaurant was shut down indefinitely until everything was corrected, leading the owner to decide to permanently close instead.
"Thank you to our loyal customers and to our employees who gave their all. I am truly sorry this community is losing something that meant so much - and we are even more sorry for how it was handled," the owner wrote.
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