Residents in two north Arkansas counties are gathering signatures in a bid to get alcohol-sales measures on the November general election ballot.
It’s the second time those in Independence and Randolph counties are trying to legalize the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores, gas stations and convenience stores, and mixed drinks in restaurants. Efforts fell short in both counties two years ago when proponents failed to collect enough signatures from registered voters.
“The biggest hurdle is getting it on the ballot,” said Linda Bowlin, a Pocahontas attorney who is spearheading Randolph County’s drive to go “wet.” “We learned a lot from our mistakes last time. We don’t want to give up.”
In Independence County, Ross Jones, who works in technical support for The Batesville Daily Guard, said he is tired of revenue leaving his county because people drive to Jackson or Sharp counties to buy alcohol.
“Alcohol is an instant industry,” Jones said. “It’s an issue of economics. We can no longer give it away. The buyers are going to buy alcohol. Let’s keep that money in Independence County.”
Opponents in both counties fear that easier access to alcohol will result in an increase in crime and addiction problems.
“Everywhere you look [in Sharp County] there’s beer,” said Jerry Hagar, a retired Batesville minister and former police officer who opposes alcohol sales in Independence County. Alcohol sales “makes it harder for people who are trying to stay sober. It’s a detriment to the county.”
Randolph and Independence counties border Sharp County, which voted to allow alcohol sales in 2012. A Sharp County group — headed by a Cherokee Village woman who touted the environmental impact of lower gasoline emissions from people not traveling 30 miles to Missouri to buy alcohol — tried three times to place the alcohol issue on the county’s ballot.
In 2008, the group failed to collect enough signatures after a circuit judge rejected some names, saying they were not registered voters. In 2010, the group turned in a sufficient number of signatures, but the filing was a week too late.
Finally, on Nov. 6, 2012, Sharp County voters approved alcohol sales.
Sharp County, like Independence and Randolph counties, voted to halt such sales in the 1940s when, locals say, men were overseas battling in World War II and unable to vote.
Proponents in Independence and Randolph counties have until July to collect the necessary number of signatures to get the issue on the ballot.
Bowlin said her group is more diligent this time. It also has more workers and more financial backing, she said. The group needs to gather about 4,000 signatures of registered voters.
“We’ re hitting every place people gather,” she said.
Bowlin wants to keep tax money in Randolph County, rather than watch it leave for Sharp County or Missouri, which borders Randolph County to the north, she said.
“The county voted to go dry more than 50 years ago,” she said. “Times have changed. If they vote to go wet, it doesn’t mean everybody and their brother can open a bar.”
According to the Alcohol Beverage Control Division in Arkansas, 40 counties in the state allow the sale of alcohol, and 35 are “dry.”
Revenue from the sale of alcohol goes into the state’s general fund and is disbursed evenly among all 75 counties, said Milton Lueken, an attorney with the division. However, businesses that sell alcohol pay local governments for annual permits. Restaurants that serve alcohol also each pay yearly fees of between $750 and $1,000.
Package stores also pay premiums to local municipalities based on the amount of beer sold, Lueken said.
A store that sells $100,000 worth of beer, for example, will pay a city $520 a year.
“It does open up for a little bit more revenue when counties allow the sale of alcohol,” he said.
Drew Pearson, director of Grace Family Worship Center in Pocahontas, which helps people who have addictions, said he thinks the sale of alcohol in his county will create more problems.
“It increases the availability to people,” Pearson said. “It puts more intoxicated people closer to home. I’m against it, but people will speak. If the county votes it in, that’s the choice of the county.”
Hagar said he intends to hold public meetings in Independence County to urge people not to vote for alcohol sales.
“I think we can get it defeated,” he said. “I really do. I don’t want to see Independence County go wet. If it does, it will go downhill.”