A restaurant owner wrote letters to city and chamber of commerce officials urging controls on Atlantic Beach Bikefest visitors and said he'd rather close and lose money, according to the lawsuit.

Excerpts of letters from J. Edward Fleming are mentioned in a filing against his two restaurants, J. Edwards Great Ribs and More and Fleming's B & Chop Restaurant. Fleming said he doesn't remember the letters.

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People sued Fleming's two restaurants, as well as Greg Norman's Australian Grille and Damon's Grill this week, alleging they closed during Memorial Day weekend 2002 and 2003 to avoid serving blacks.

The aim of the lawsuits, intended to stop what the NAACP has said is discriminatory behavior, is not to keep businesses from closing but to ensure the closures are not racially motivated, said NAACP lawyer Hannibal Kemerer.

Last year, the NAACP filed discrimination lawsuits against the city of Myrtle Beach, its police chief and Horry County, and against Yachtsman Resort Hotel. One lawsuit accuses the city of using traffic patterns and police to make the Grand Strand inhospitable to black bikers. The other said the Yachtsman used inflated rates and stiff rules to drive away black customers.

The city and the hotel have denied the allegations.

The NAACP says the predominantly black crowds who attend the bike rally are treated differently than visitors to the annual Carolina Harley-Davidson Dealers Association Myrtle Beach Rally, also held in May.

The latest lawsuit, filed on behalf of 11 people, alleges that the restaurants deprived plaintiffs of their rights to enjoy equal access to the businesses.

The lawsuit against Fleming's and J. Edwards says Fleming demonstrated the race-based intent to close his business in a 1998 letter to the Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce.

"Before I will tolerate the takeover by a group of such as what we have experienced, I will close my doors and take the loss. ... Something must be done, but it is going to be difficult with this group being black as they have all the rights in America anymore," the lawsuit says.

In that letter, Fleming allegedly said he would close his business during Memorial Day weekend in 1999, "if something isn't done to prevent such a racist group of people from disrupting our lives and business from which we are accustomed," the lawsuit said.

Fleming said Friday, "I don't recall that being stated as it's quoted."

Fleming said he would need to see the handwriting in the letters to determine whether it was his.

Stephen Greene, spokesman for the chamber, said he didn't know about the letter.

In a separate letter to Myrtle Beach Mayor Mark McBride in 2000, the lawsuit says, Fleming urged McBride to keep pushing restrictions for the bike rally and add more law enforcement if necessary to protect the city.

McBride, who asked the governor to send National Guard troops to the Grand Strand for the 1999 bike rally, couldn't be reached for comment Friday.

Fleming said he closes his businesses because it's in the best interest of the business.

"The traffic during Memorial Day weekend is the problem," he said. The Harley week is one of my best weeks of the year. I'm not a racist."

Neither of his restaurants will be open this weekend.

Mike Robertson, vice president of operations at Damon's said the business's two locations - at Barefoot Landing and on Ocean Boulevard - usually closed during the Atlantic Beach Bikefest, but this year the Barefoot Landing location will be open. The Ocean Boulevard restaurant was open Friday but will be closed through Sunday.

Robertson said he opened at Barefoot this year because of new roads in the area that have helped lessen congestion.

"It's strictly numbers," he said. "Traffic is not backed up."

On Ocean Boulevard, he said, business fell drastically after city officials barricaded that street to create two one-way lanes. By Friday, business fell to half what it was Wednesday.

"This is not racially motivated," he said.

A spokesman for Greg Norman's restaurant couldn't be reached for comment. Earlier, manager Mike Cain said the eatery would be open this year.

Kemerer said, "It would be one thing for a business to close for a legitimate reason: lack of food or the energy is out. But in these cases, you see a large number of businesses closing in a beach town during the summer over a vacation weekend. It's clear the reason they are closing is to avoid serving African-Americans."

The four restaurants sued Wednesday were among 28 named last year in complaint filed with the S.C. Human Affairs Commission.

"We wanted to sue the most egregious restaurants," Kemerer said.

Staff writer Josh Hoke contributed to this report.