Sunday alcohol sales pass
Published 12:38 am Wednesday, November 7, 2012
The voters of Dallas County overwhelming supported a measure Tuesday that will now allow alcohol sales on Sunday.
The measure will now allow sales on Sundays between noon and 9:30 p.m. Of the more than 18,000 votes cast, just over 65 percent of the votes were case in support of Sunday sales.
“That’s great,” Steve South, general manager of Bama Budweiser, said Tuesday night after hearing the news. “I’m happy for Dallas County. I hope this can generate some new business for us. I’m happy for our employees, and I appreciate the citizens of Dallas County standing up with us.”
The vote, which came down to 12,139 votes yes and 6,376 votes no, is one that Dallas County residents struggled with in previous years and one that voters seemed to either passionately support or oppose.
“Dallas County will have to deal with more alcohol related problems, and I’m sad about that,” said Rev. Tom Stacey of the Selma Baptist Association. “The fact is, if Sunday alcohol sales do pass, it just means more of a bad thing. More negative consequences for the community. The family will be the loser.”
Stacey said the concern of the church is about people, not about profit.
“We’re talking about more missed days at work, more DUIs, more opportunity for traffic fatalities, more spouse abuse and child neglect, more families with depleted grocery and utility budgets,” Stacey said. “I can’t imagine people thinking more of that is a good thing. It’s just not reality. The reality is horrible, negative consequences from alcohol. We have nearly 20 million alcoholics in America, and I can’t imagine that folks would think it’s a good idea to have more. It defies logic.”
South said the passage of the referendum will help the county.
“I know it will generate some business,” South said. “Some outside businesses will come in now that we have Sunday sales. We couldn’t have gotten this accomplished without the citizens of Dallas County. We appreciate it so much.”
Probate Judge Kim Ballard said the referendum would go into affect at the commission meeting next week.
