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Skelton said the sale of beer and wine would boost the sales tax revenue in the county - revenue which is doled out on percentage basis to schools, courthouses and other uses.

He said $875,000 in sales tax on food sales alone was lost to Gilmer County last year. Skelton said Fannin, for example, is losing teachers to Gilmer because it can pay higher supplements because of the increased sales tax revenue it receives.

“We’re only looking at this from a dollars and cents, economic standpoint,” Skelton said. He presented petitions that had been collected at area businesses to the commission members, saying they had received approximately 1,200 signatures on those petitions.

Skelton said that 83 percent of respondents on a 2007 Fannin County Chamber of Commerce survey had indicated they favored the sale of beer and wine in restaurants. He also said 46 percent of people staying in Fannin cabins and motels are going to Hiawassee or Ellijay for their meals.

“Gilmer County is just taking us for a ride, folks,” he said. “It’s draining our economy here.”

Skelton said that last year, beer and wine sales brought in $250,000 in revenue for Blue Ridge, and $145,000 for Copperhill. He said the committee was asking only for beer and wine in “respectable restaurants”; not for package sales or beer joints.

In urging the commission to consider the proposal, Skelton said, “I’m not asking you to do a thing in the world against your conscience.” As he concluded, he received sustained applause, and a few boos, from the assembled crowd.

Ledford said real estate and cabin sales in the county “hit a brick wall” about this time last year, and that he was concerned that if restaurants go out of business that jobs in the county will be lost.

“I don’t see a big problem with beer and wine in the county,” Ledford said, but added that it must be tightly regulated. He said he thought Tennessee had a good idea with their new legislation requiring everyone purchasing alcoholic beverages to show identification, regardless of age.

Ledford said there were probably only three to five restaurants in the county right now that would be interested in obtaining licenses. “I don’t have a problem with this at all, in fact I would support it if we can regulate it real well,” he said.

Bruce said he was not opposed to beer and wine being in the county, but that he was opposed to any decision on it being made just by the three-member commission board, and not by the entire community.

Instead, Bruce said, he supports a countywide, all-or-nothing referendum on the issue. He said that position is consistent with the position he took when campaigning prior to the election. “I have to stand by what I said - I am not going to be perceived as someone who flip-flops on these issues.”

Ledford said he would only support a referendum on beer and wine, not hard liquor. He said beer and wine is already in Fannin, but liquor is not.

Bruce encouraged Skelton to take the same presentation to the Blue Ridge City Council. He said most restaurants are in the city and that only a few are in the county.

Currently, Blue Ridge allows package sales of beer and wine for off-premises consumption only. It does not allow pouring licenses, nor does it allow the practice of “brown bagging” by restaurant customers.

Previously, County Attorney Lynn Doss has said that the county Board of Commissioners has the authority to permit, license and regulate beer and wine sales in the county. Tuesday, she reiterated that position, saying that authority includes the issuing of pouring licenses for restaurant sales.

Doss said that because the commission board already has the legal authority to permit and regulate beer and wine sales, it is prohibited from putting the matter to a referendum vote.

Liquor sales would require a county election, Doss said.

Is it true that DUI’s DECREASE once dry counties go wet?Yes, it is true that in most instances DUI’s decrease when counties go wet. It is certainly true in Santa Rosa County which voted to go wet in 2005. In the three years leading up to the wet-dry election, 2003-2005, Santa Rosa County averaged 340 DUI arrests per month. In the three years since the election, 2006-2008, Santa Rosa County averaged 254 DUI’s per month, a decrease of 25%. During this same period, Santa Rosa County’s population increased by 15%.

A study of about 39,000 alcohol-related traffic accidents in wet compared to dry counties in Kentucky found that alcohol-related traffic accidents are higher in dry counties. The findings suggest that residents in dry counties drive farther from their homes to consume alcohol, which increases the number of intoxicated drivers on the roads. These results are consistent with research conducted by others. (References: 1. Gary, S.L.S., et al. Consideration of driver home county prohibition and alcohol-related vehicle crashes. Accident Analysis and Prevention, 2003, 35(5), 641-648; Hanson, D.J. Preventing Alcohol Abuse. Westport, CT: Praeger, 1995, chapter 3.)

Recent studies have also found that the correlation between alcohol
accessibility and social problems such as accidents tends to be spurious
when controlling for other measures. In fact, while the results are
somewhat mixed, numerous academic papers have noted negative effects
of county-level prohibition on social problems. (It is, of course, well known
and widely documented that the national experiment with banning sales in
the 1920s was ineffective). One study concluded that, when county
characteristics are properly accounted for, local access results in a 4%
drop in alcohol-related accidents, while another observed that the
proportion of the population involved in such crashes was notably higher
in dry areas.

By: Adam Crisp
Officials in Trenton, Ga., are in talks that may allow restaurants to serve beer and wine.

The town’s mayor says it’s an issue of economics — the city faces a shrinking property tax base and few options for growing its commercial tax income.

Beer and wine sales would provide an additional source of revenue and perhaps attract more restaurants, hotels and industry, Mayor Barton Harris said.

But even discussing the issue has proven controversial. City leaders haven’t scheduled a vote on the matter, but their August called meeting, at which they were adopting the city’s property tax millage rate, drew a large crowd with both supporters and detractors for the alcohol issue.

Several churches brought members who opposed the ordinance and quoted biblical scripture to support their opposition.

“My husband was a pastor here for years. We saw what alcohol had done to families,” resident Betty Tate said Tuesday.

“Alcoholism starts with just one drink,” said Tate, who also attended the recent meeting. “Many people say they can control their drinking, but generally speaking, they cannot, and they become alcoholics.”

During the meeting, held last week, city leaders kept their millage rate the same, but Harris said the city must make cuts to get by with less tax revenue because of declining property values and a lack of commercial and sales tax revenue.

With no new tax income, beer and wine sales could help bridge the budget gap, he said.

For now, the City Commission just wants to hear public opinion on the matter and will discuss it again in September and perhaps again October. There has been no date set for a vote, he said.

“From what I’ve gathered on the street, it seems like people are riding the fence,” Harris said. “We’re just in debate and discussion.”

Any ordinance should require restaurants that serve alcohol to derive 70 percent of its income from food sales, Harris said.

Despite seeing positives, one commissioner said he’s keeping an open mind about any ordinance.

“Right now I’m still looking at everyone’s opinions,” said Commissioner Chuck Cannon. “I’m trying to weigh everyone’s opinions.”

He understood points made by folks like Tate, but he’s also interested in getting more restaurants, which might lure more industry and more tax revenue.

“No one wants to be the first to take a chance on a city,” Cannon said. “People want to jump on board. They don’t want to build the ship.”