Group seeks alcohol sales, files petition

3,537 signatures turned in for Madison County vote

A Madison County group has collected enough signatures to put the question of alcoholic-beverage sales on the November election ballot, said Bob Barton of Kingston, who spearheaded the petition drive.

Barton said his organization, Keep the Money in Madison County, turned in 3,537 signatures on Wednesday, which was the deadline.

Under Arkansas Code Annotated 3-8-205(a), the group needed the signatures of 3,122 registered voters, which is 38 percent of the number of registered voters on June 1.

Faron Ledbetter, the Madison County clerk, has 10 days to certify the signatures but he said he may have it complete before the deadline.

Barton and his group will continue collecting signatures during the certification process in case some are disqualified. If the number of valid signatures is less than 3,122, Ledbetter said he will notify Barton in writing, and the group will have another 10 days after notification to gather more valid signatures.

Barton said this is the first serious petition drive seeking a vote on alcohol sales in Madison County since 1946, when voters opted to prohibit alcohol sales.

Barton said the petition drive was easy in the beginning but got progressively more difficult. On July 21, Barton said they were about 800 signatures shy of the number needed.

“We knew it was going to get progressively harder,” he said. “We knew the last 10 [percent] or 15 percent was going to be the real trudge.”

Barton said 18 to 24 volunteers have been helping with the signature drive for months. The petition drive started in February.

In late June, Barton began paying the volunteer gatherers $5 per signature. About two weeks ago, he increased the pay to $10 per signature. Some took the pay. Others didn’t. He gave out about $2,000 total, he said.

Barton said the pay produced a “momentary bump” in the number of signatures they were collecting, but he thinks the main incentive was being so close to getting the requisite number.

Arkansas Code Annotated 7-9-109(a) requires that the petition signatures be witnessed. Petition collectors signed the bottom of each

page indicating they witnessed the signatures, Barton said. The pages are then notarized by someone else.

Barton said he had been going through the pages after they were signed, trying to eliminate any duplication of signatures.

If the measure passes Nov. 6, it would allow for three liquor stores in Madison County and the sale of beer and wine at restaurants and bars that receive permits from the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Passage also would allow the sale of beer and small-farm wine at retail stores that receive permits.

One liquor store is allowed for every 4,000 residents. Madison County had a 2010 population of 15,717.

The vote wouldn’t allow for the sale of mixed drinks at restaurants and bars, but that could be achieved in a referendum vote held at least six months later, according to Arkansas Code Annotated 3-9-208(a). Even in dry counties, businesses can apply to be private clubs and serve mixed drinks under the provisions of Act 1371 of 1999.

Madison County is one of seven in the state that doesn’t allow any alcohol sales, said Judy Chwalinski, administrative assistant to the director of the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Division. Arkansas has 40 dry counties, but 33 of those have private clubs, she said.

The November ballot initiative would be for or against the “manufacture or sale of intoxicating liquors,” according to Arkansas Code Annotated 3-8-206(a)(1).

Barton said if Madison County allows alcohol sales, he would consider opening a small-batch brewery similar to Hog Haus Brewing Co. in Fayetteville.

A group called Citizens to Keep Madison County Safe formed to oppose Barton’s petition drive.

“We want to keep our county like it is,” Linda Vandiver, a member of the opposition group and co-owner of Faubus Motel in Huntsville, said last month. “We like the culture that we have here.”

Linda Vandiver couldn’t be reached for comment Wednesday. James Vandiver, her husband, said they won’t comment on the issue before the county clerk certifies the signatures.

The Rev. Jim Spurlock of Huntsville Freewill Baptist Church said Wednesday he is against the county allowing alcohol sales.

“I’m a minister of the Gospel, and I don’t think any minister ought to be teaching that it’s all right to be drinking alcohol,” he said.

Madison County is bordered by three counties that allow package sales — Carroll, Franklin and Washington. The other bordering counties — Benton, Crawford, Johnson and Newton — don’t have retail liquor sales.

A Benton County petition drive, however led by heirs of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. founder Sam Walton has gathered more than 56,000 signatures to put the issue on the ballot there. The Benton County clerk’s office said there was a sufficient number of valid signatures. Professional canvassers gathered most of the signatures in Benton County.

As of June 30, Keep Dollars in Benton County had raised $ 410,000 and spent $408,314, according to a filing with the Arkansas Ethics Commission.

By contrast, Keep the Money in Madison County had raised $8,571 and spent $3,006 during the same period.

As of July 31, Keep Madison County Safe had raised $1,844 and spent $1,519, according to its most recent filing with the Ethics Commission. Linda Vandiver signed the document as the committee officer.