Drive in Madison County under way for alcohol vote

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BILL BOWDEN

7/20/12

Pamela Montoya, owner of Memory Lane Collectibles in Huntsville, has wet/dry petitions on the counter for people to sign.
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/BILL BOWDEN 7/20/12 Pamela Montoya, owner of Memory Lane Collectibles in Huntsville, has wet/dry petitions on the counter for people to sign.

A Madison County group is trying to gather at least 800 more signatures by Aug. 8 to put the question of alcohol sales on the November election ballot.

Keep the Money in Madison County needs the signatures of 3,122 people who were registered voters on June 1, said Faron Ledbetter, Madison County clerk. That’s based on Arkansas Code Annotated 3-8-205(a), which calls for petitions signed by 38 percent of registered voters in the county.

“I fully anticipate going in on [Aug. 8] and flopping a stack of papers down on the clerk’s desk,” said Bob Barton of Kingston, who is spearheading the petition drive that began in February. “We’re not done yet. We’ve still got time.”

Barton said this is the first serious petition drive to force a wet/dry vote in Madison County in 66 years.

“Over the course of this thing, we’ve had 40 or 50 people who have collected signatures for us,” he said. “There’s a group of 15 or 20 who are still active on a daily basis.”

If they get the signatures and the measure passes Nov. 6, it would allow for three liquor stores in Madison County and the sale of beer and wine at restaurants, bars and retail stores that receive permits from the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division.

One liquor store is allowed for every 4,000 residents. Madison County had a 2010 population of 15,717.

The vote wouldn’t allow for sale of mixed drinks at restaurants and bars, but that could be done in a referendum vote held at least six months later, according to Arkansas Code Annotated 3-9-208(a). Even in dry counties, businesses also can apply to be a private club and serve mixed drinks underthe provisions of Act 1371 of 1999.

Madison County is one of seven counties in the state that doesn’t allow any alcohol sales, said Judy Chwalinski, administrative assistant to the director of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Arkansas has 40 dry counties, but 33 of those have private clubs, she said.

The November ballot initiative would be for or against the “manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors,” according to Arkansas Code Annotated 3-8-206(a)(1).

Barton said he has toyed with the idea of opening a brewery similar to Hog Haus Brewing Co. in Fayetteville.

“If Madison County went wet, sure I’d consider something like that,” he said.

A group also has formed in opposition to Barton’s petition drive. They call themselves Citizens to Keep Madison County Safe.

“We want to keep ourcounty like it is,” said Linda Vandiver, a member of the opposition group and co-owner of the Faubus Motel in Huntsville. “We like the culture that we have here.”

If alcohol sales are allowed in the county, there will be more vehicle accidents, violent crime and underage drinking, Vandiver said.

The issue came up at the July 16 meeting of the Madison County Quorum Court, Vandiver said. A resolution to support the petition drive failed by a vote of 6-3 after justices of the peace heard from representatives from both groups, she said.

“All around the county, the church folks are beginning to take a stand and come out of the woodwork,” Vandiver said. “They’re boycotting the businesses that support this. We have not told them to do that. Folks are just doing it on their own.”

Two business owners who have petitions available for customers to sign said they’ve seen no drop in business as a result.

“I had a couple of customers early on in the petition drive that were very vocal and walked out of the store, but I haven’t had any since then,” said Pamela Montoya, owner of Memory Lane Collectibles, an antique store in Huntsville. “There’s that percentage of people in the community that you’re not going to be able to make happy.”

Wanda Kimball, owner of B&M Grocery & Cafe in Combs, said she’s had 15 or 20 people ask her to open thestore after hours just so they could sign the petition. Kimball lives behind the store.

“I think it should be put on the ballot to give people a choice,” she said. “I don’t drink myself, but I believe people have the right to decide instead of just a few people.”

David Cline, co-owner of Huntsville Feed & Milling Co., said voters should be allowed to make the final decision on the wet/dry issue.

“If it gets on the ballot, people will have an opportunity to vote for it,” he said. “That would be the best thing to happen. If it passes it passes. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t.”

Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-109(a) requires that the petition signatures be witnessed. Montoya and Kimball said they watch people sign the petition, so they can sign at the bottom of the page swearing the signatures on the page were witnessed.

Barton said he has been going through the pages after they’re signed trying to eliminate duplication of signatures.

“We’re trying to do our best with quality control,” he said.

Barton said he’ll need to get more than 3,122 signatures because some people who think they are registered to vote will be mistaken about that. He said canvassers ask people if they are a registered voter before allowing them to sign the petition.

Ledbetter, the county clerk, said it sounds like what they are doing is legal, adding that the pages would then be notarized by someone else.

Huntsville Mayor Kevin Hatfield said he’s backing the petition drive and he’ll sign it when he gets a chance.

“I think it should be voted on by the people of this county,” he said. “I’m for the county being wet, as a citizen. That’s the reason I would vote for it.”

County Sheriff Phillip Morgan said he was staying out of the fray.

“I don’t know whether it would make a whole lot of difference or not,” he said. “There are people who are going to drink whether it’s wet or whether it’s dry.”

Samantha Hutchison ofHuntsville said the county voted to go dry on Aug. 8, 1946. The vote was 997 to 499. Hutchison, a graduate student at Goddard College in Plainfield, Vt., has been researching the subject for a school project.

She said soldiers returning from World War II were apparently spending lots of time in Huntsville bars. In October 1945, William N. O’Dell, the owner of O’Dell’s Saloon, struck a patron, former soldier Arch Whitely, 30, over the head with a blackjack.

The next day, Whitely died, said Hutchison, citing an article in the Madison County Record. The homicide was the impetus for the wet/dry vote in 1946, she said.

Madison County is bordered by three counties that allow package sales, Carroll, Franklin and Washington. The other bordering counties, Benton, Crawford, Johnson and Newton, don’t have retail liquor sales.

A Benton County petition drive led by some of the heirs of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton has gathered more than 56,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot. The Benton County clerk’s office is expected to finish certifying the signatures Monday. Professional petitioners did most of the signature gathering in Benton County.

As of June 30, Keep Dollars in Benton County had raised $410,000 and spent $408,314, according to a filing with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

Brothers Steuert and Tom Walton, Sam Walton’s grandsons, each have contributed $180,000 toward that effort.

By contrast, Keep the Money in Madison County had raised $8,571 and spent $3,006, during the same time period.

Citizens to Keep Madison County Safe hasn’t filed any paperwork with the Ethics Commission but are in the process of doing so, said James Vandiver, Linda’s husband.

Northwest Arkansas, Pages 11 on 07/22/2012

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