URGED TO ABSTAIN
Proposed Walker County alcohol ordinance changes shake up churches
Shannon Whitfield was threatened with one term in office as Walker County commissioner and accused of hiding the county’s efforts to amend its alcohol ordinance during a Jan. 23 public hearing.
Whitfield answered questions when asked, referring a couple to the county attorney for followup, but mostly listened for more than an hour as about 20 men, many of them ministers, urged him to abstain from approving the amendments. Two residents spoke in support of the proposed changes.
“We don’t have a local newspaper,” said Rick Tallent, who described himself as a LaFayette minister, writer and businessman.
He criticized the county’s legal advertisement of the hearings in the Dec. 25 edition of the Walker County Messenger, saying no one looks at the paper at Christmas. He likened legal advertising in the Messenger to information on a flyer littering the street.
The Messenger is the county’s legal organ, where all legal advertisements in Walker County are required by state law to be published. The Messenger’s office is in LaFayette.
Whitfield held the second public hearing to deregulate the ordinance to match with state minimum requirements for selling packaged wine and malt beverages, as well as the on-premise consumption of wine, malt beverages and distilled spirits. Whitfield, who said he does not drink alcohol, did not act on the proposed amendments in the business meeting following the hearing that evening. Officials said they would allow time to consider citizens’ input; however, the commissioner has not yet announced when he would put the item on the agenda for action.
The county posted notice Jan. 7 on its Facebook page for the Jan. 9 hearing and Jan. 22 for the second hearing.
When the public knew about the proposed amendment, many people turned out for the meeting, Tallent said, acknowledging the room with more than 70 citizens attending.
“We don’t need a commissioner that will run over the churches,” he said. He also vowed to do everything in his power to ensure Whitfield is a one-term commis
sioner if he amends the ordinance as proposed.
“I’m always encouraged to see the public engaged in the decision-making process,” Whitfield said. “Even though
there were differing viewpoints shared on this topic, it’s heartening to know our community can have a respectful and productive discussion as we work to address issues in Walker County.”
Will Ingram simply offered his support for the proposed changes while John Hentz pointed to the success of popular tourist destinations that have a stable economic base and meet travelers’ expectations.
“I can tell there’s a lot of fear in this room,” Hentz said, adding that he understands fears about public intoxication, drunk driving, use of alcohol leading to other drugs and children who lack sufficient parental guidance to help them make good decisions.
The prevalence of churches in the South is “great” but creates challenges for restaurants because a church can control what happens on properties near those it owns, said Hentz, who considers himself a Christian.
“It’s extremely one-sided.”
Hentz distilled the argument to an issue that can prevent businesses and towns from growing.
Opposition ranged from Alan Painter, who urged the commissioner not to move forward with the amendments, cited driving safety concerns and said the issue “has really moved my heart,” to other opponents who characterized the proposed amendments as a direct attack on churches and the community’s culture.
Several shared stories from their own lives or those of others whose lives had been
damaged by alcohol. Some said alcohol consumption acts as a gateway to lower inhibitions to other behaviors.
“If I had my way, alcohol would be abolished,” Chris O’Neal, pastor at Bethany Baptist Church in Rossville, said. He would prefer alcohol be prohibited within 1,000 feet of a church, rather than the current 300 feet.
O’Neal, who led a recovery program for drug and alcohol addiction when he was with a church in Alabama, said no one has told him that trying alcohol has improved their lives. He gave an example of alcohol serving a gateway to methamphetamine use for one individual.
Mike Nolan said he ate cereal with water as a child because the family’s refrigerator was filled with beer for his “drunkard” father. Nolan, a born-again Christian, believes the county is large enough that establishments that sell or serve alcohol do not have to build in front of churches and schools.
“This is about respecting their beliefs,” Abe Allen said of churches. Allen, a former restaurant owner, has announced he is a candidate for Board of Commissioner’s chairman.
“Selling more alcohol will not solve any problem in Walker County,” said Tony Jackson, who also asserted that people do not read the local newspaper. Jackson suggested asking nearby churches to vote if they would approve the sales or serving of alcohol.
Allen said selling alcohol will not increase a restaurant’s customer’s base or revenues because the profit margin on alcohol is smaller than people probably think; a restaurant that is almost outside the 300 feet distance from a church could seek a variance to allow that business to serve alcohol, rather than the county changing its ordinance.
Restaurant licenses typically require that alcohol not exceed a designated percentage of the establishment’s sales so that the business generates the majority of its business in food sales, rather than the business becoming a bar where food sales are a minority of its business.
Whitfield acknowledged that the proceeds from alcohol taxes and licences collected would generate maybe $100,000 of the county’s $38 million budget. He said he never tried to argue that insignificant alcohol revenues would make up any budget shortfalls.
Since the proposal’s first hearing Jan. 9, some people’s comments indicate that they did not understand the ordinance as written and proposed amendments, specifically the difference between package sales and sales by the drink and the difference between distilled spirits, or hard liquor, and malt beverages, beer and wine.
Whitfield and economic development director Robert Wardlaw, at the Jan. 9 hearing, asserted that the changes will level the playing field for businesses that cannot sell or serve alcohol in the unincorporated areas of the county while their competitors can do so within neighboring counties and city limits.
They also reasoned that the deregulation will limit government while the county can capture taxes that are being collected by other jurisdictions when consumers leave Walker County if they cannot get what they want there.
The proposed changes will align with ordinances in LaFayette and Chickamauga, officials said.
Grocery stores are also exempt from the prohibition. A grocery store next to a church can currently sell alcohol, but another retail business cannot.
Rather than granting a variance for a single business, county officials said they opted to change the ordinance to treat all businesses equally.