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Now what, alcohol-wise? Thomasville citizens bucked history last week and for the first time ever approved the legalized sale of alcohol. They have consistently voted against legalized sales in county referendums but on Aug. 14 agreed by a 58 percent margin in a municipal referendum to allow legalized sales within the city limits. Some wags suggested that Thomasville folks just couldn't stand the idea of longtime cross county rival Jackson being the only legal outlet in dry Clarke County. Others say citizens there have grown more progressive-minded and realize that alcohol can bring not only tax dollars but community growth too. Whatever the reasons, legalized sales will soon be permitted in the north Clarke community, likely by Oct. 1. So now, in ol' dry Clarke, we have the two largest municipalities legally able to sell beer, whiskey and wine. Where does that leave Grove Hill? High and dry it would seem and even further behind our fastadvancing neighbors. We'd suggest one of two things- go ahead and vote the county wet, or, barring that, get up a local legislative bill and let the citizens of Grove Hill vote on the question. Vote county wet The better option would be to vote the entire county wet. One argument for that is that because Clarke County is dry it gets about $200,000 or so in Tennessee Valley Authority dollars that rightfully belong to the counties in the TVA. Crazy Alabama politics allowed for the passage of a law several years ago that gave dry counties TVA funds "in lieu" of alcohol tax dollars. It isn't right that this money goes to counties outside of the TVA area simply because they do not allow legalized alcohol sales. A bill this year sought to remedy the situation. It didn't pass but it will one day and it should. Clarke County will be about $200,000 or so shy in its general fund when that happens so the sooner we legalize what we already have, the better. A petition needs to be started soon so that we can get the question on a countywide ballot by early 2008. It'd be an ideal companion for the presidential primary in early February. A second option The second option would be for Grove Hill to petition for the right to vote on the question. It has already been proven that individual municipalities have the right to control alcohol. Some say size is a factor but Cedar Bluff up in Cherokee County has less than 1,400 citizens- about the same as Grove Hill- and alcohol sales are legal there. Stevenson in Jackson County (where there are three wet municipalities in a dry county) has a population of just under 1,800 and allows sales. Being the county seat, we have more than enough law enforcement to adequately police the town. There is a good police department and the county sheriff's department is located here as well as a state trooper post. It makes little sense that Grove Hill should be dry when you can drive less than 15 miles north or south and buy alcohol (or you can as soon as Thomasville gets going). Of course it makes no sense to us in a modern age to retain the old concept of wet-dry counties at all. Grove Hill, by the way, has voted wet almost as consistently as Thomasville voted dry over the years.
Legalize sales countywide now that the north and sout ends are wet. Barring that, let's get a move on to make Grove Hill wet. The county seat is being left farther and farther behind every day.
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