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Jackson Gov. Bob Riley signed bills last Wednesday that give citizens in Jackson and Monroeville the right to vote on the sale of alcoholic beverages within those cities. The separate local bills were approved by the Alabama Legislature late in the special session. The local bill route was taken after an attempt to change a state law failed in the regular session earlier this year. That bill would have reduced the population limit from 7,000 to 5,000 to allow municipalities across the state to hold wet/dry elections. It passed the Legislature but did not become law because Gov. Bob Riley refused to sign it. Based on current population figures, the bill would have affected only Jackson, Monroeville and four other cities in the state. At least one of the affected cities, Roanoke, balked at the change and the bill failed. The new local law provides that "the electors of an incorporated municipality located in Clarke County with a population of not less than 5,000 inhabitants may change its classification from dry to wet or wet to dry by a municipal option election...." The only municipality of 5,000 or more population in the county is Jackson. The city’s population according to the 2000 census is 5,419. The new law provides that a petition bearing the signatures of at least 25 percent of the voters who voted in the last general election in the municipality be presented to request a vote on the question. If the petition’s signatures are valid, city officials would schedule an election and the registered voters of the municipality would decide the question at the polls. If a majority of voters vote "yes" in a referendum, then alcoholic beverages could legally be sold, distributed and consumed within the coporate limits. If a majority votes "no," then the city would remain dry and it will be more than four years before the question can be voted on again. The bill for Monroe County is similar and would allow dry Monroeville to vote on alcohol sales too. Monroeville has a population of 6,850. It is not known when efforts will be started to get the question on the ballot in Jackson. The voting precincts in the city of Jackson have traditionally voted wet in Clarke County referendums even though the county as a whole has always voted to remain dry. Similar local laws have been written to allow Alabama municipalities with less population than the state requirement to vote on the wet/dry question. Cedar Bluff, in dry Cherokee County in northwest Alabama, has a population of about 1,400 and last August 73 percent of its voters voted better than three-to-one to allow alcohol sales under a special local law, said City Manager Ricky Steele. That vote is being challenged in Circuit Court there and the matter is pending before a judge now. Plaintiffs are arguing that the state law that requires a population of 7,000 or more should prevail before local municipalities can vote on the issue. A decision in that case could have a bearing on the local laws pertaining to Jackson and Monroeville.
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