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T'ville wet-dry debate
Carroll Scarbrough is the chairman of the city Industrial Development Board. The IDB, as well as the Southwest Alabama Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, are in favor of beverage sales. "We're not really advocating alcohol use or drinking," he said. "…Drinking is a personal thing. An individual makes that choice. "…We just feel like it is an economic issue. We have people come in and cross paths with us (the IDB) about this, and they ask us about (alcoholic sales)." Scarbrough said the ability to sell alcohol might attract a top-notch restaurant. With the many motels in the city and a new Hampton Inn expected to be under construction, "people are coming here to spend the night to do business at this conglomeration of paper mills around here….A guy comes in, and he likes to have a nice meal and a glass of wine. He can't do that in Thomasville. Where does he go to spend his night? Likely, Jackson. "…People who drink alcohol are going to drink whether it's wet or dry," he said. "The position we took in the industrial board is that we need the revenue. "…There's a lot of tax money that goes across the county line up here. Five miles away you can go up and buy what you want. That may be satisfactory to a lot of people, but I just believe that revenue could bring us some things." With the Louisiana Pacific mill under construction and the ThyssenKrupp steel plant in the near future, "we think Thomasville and Clarke County are in position for a lot of things," Scarbrough said. "…With this explosion of industry around here, you need the infrastructure and the things to go along with that. The only thing the city gets is sales tax….Most communities are built on sales tax. Payrolls (from new industries) make sales tax." A native of Thomasville, Scarbrough has been on the IDB for several years. He retired after 37 years with the Georgia Pacific/James River/American Can mill in Pennington. Legalization of alcohol sales is just another piece of the puzzle in promoting Thomasville, he said. Thomasville has been put on the map through the efforts of Mayor Sheldon Day, Scarbrough said. "He's as active as you can get. He'll irritate you to death. He's a go-getter. Plus, he's had an ideal city council that supports him." There are also "a lot of good people willing to serve in volunteer work and committees," he said. People may criticize the mayor's high profile and vision of the city, but "there are a lot of people who just don't like success. A lot of people like the status quo; they don't like change. Really change for the sake of change is not any good at all, but change for the better is good….You look around the town - we've got the best facilities you can get anywhere." Aug. 14 will be an important vote for the economic future of the city, he said. Local legislation is enabling municipalities in dry counties to vote on the alcohol question. Jackson and Monroeville are wet cities in dry counties. Jackson voters approved sales in a special referendum in 2005.
The last time Thomasville citizens got to vote on the matter was in a county referendum in 1981. Countywide sales were defeated then, as they always have been since the wet-dry counties concept was created in 1937.
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