Jasper Inches Towards Sunday Sales

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During Jasper’s March City Council Meeting, the city moved closer to allowing the sale of packaged and distilled alcohol on Sundays. Mayor John Weaver introduced the topic, asking for a motion from council.

“The state legislature last year voted, and governor signed, to allow the local residents in referendum to determine whether or not alcohol by the package and by the distilled spirits as well would be sold on Sunday,”

Weaver said, prefacing his request for the motion. He said he was approached by the Kroger Grocery Store administration on the topic. The administration requested the topic be put on the agenda for discussion. However, at Monday night’s meeting the Kroger Representatives were not present to participate in the discussion.

When the mayor opened the floor for discussion, no comments were made by those in attendance, so Weaver said a few words on the matter.

“My position has always been,”

he said,

“if …the people who live in the city make the determination whether they want it or not, they show up at the voting booth and decide yes or no.”

The mayor then asked for a motion to pose the question to the people of Jasper in the form of a referendum on an upcoming election ballot. Four out of the five council members voted to approve the motion; Council member John Foust, though, voted against the measure.

Mayor Pro Tem Jim Looney asked whether the referendum could be placed on the July ballot, when citizens will vote for a candidate to fill the new Ninth District Congressional seat. Currently, Rep. Tom Graves (R) is the congressman for the Ninth District. The recent realigning of congressional districts forged a new 14th District. Graves will move to the new 14th, leaving a vacancy in the new Ninth. Weaver said he thought it would be too soon to get the referendum on the July ballot, explaining that public hearings are first required in addition to approval of the state before the referendum can be placed on the ballot. He suggested that the November ballot is more likely.

On the heels of the referendum, City Clerk Tacie Williams delivered the first reading of an ordinance amendment regarding alcohol sales by the drink in restaurants on Sundays. “We had a clause in our ordinance that contradicted with another part of the ordinance,” Williams said. She explained that a few years ago the citizens voted to allow people to buy alcohol on Sundays in restaurants by the glass. However, section 10-129 did not reflect these changes. Mayor Pro Tem Looney then made a motion to accept the first reading of the ordinance amendment. Four council members approved the motion, while member John Foust voted against the measure. The second reading of the amendment will take place in April.

Early in the meeting, the mayor quipped that initially he thought the issue of alcohol sales on Sunday would be contested, seen as a violation of the First Amendment. However, he seemingly changed his view, saying,

“it’s not whether you want to sell alcohol or not, it’s that you give the people the right to make that decision.”

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