Resident speaks out against ABC
PILOT MOUNTAIN (The Pilot) — Town officials voted in February to let citizens decide whether to allow liquor-by-the-drink sales and an ABC store in Pilot Mountain, and several people already are making their voices heard on the subject.
Town resident Rick Santucci said he spoke with members of the board of commissioners about potential benefits of liquor sales before doing his own research into the drawbacks. Residents will vote for or against liquor sales in town in a referendum May 6.
Town resident Rick Santucci said he spoke with members of the board of commissioners about potential benefits of liquor sales before doing his own research into the drawbacks. Residents will vote for or against liquor sales in town in a referendum May 6.
posted by BP News Bureau | 12:46 PM
2 Comments:
In the current economy, and with such concern in the air regarding jobs, this move should be a no-brainer for Pilot Mountain residents. Besides offering more choices in retail sales to its residents and visitors, Pilot Mountain getting liquor-by-the-drink and an ABC store would attract more restaurants to the town and could even help increase sales for existing ones, attracting more customers and creating more jobs. People wouldn't have to drive from Pilot, or Westfield, or Collinstown to Mount Airy or Winston in order to have a real margarita with their burrito. Instead, they could spend that good money in their favorite small town ... and likely even tip a neighbor on the way out.
During an open forum at the board’s Monday meeting, Santucci offered statistics on the link between alcohol use and violent crime.
I'm sure there are very reliable stats on links between alcohol abuse and violent crime. However, people who abuse alcohol never seem to have a problem getting their hands on it (they'll drive drunk to Mount Airy or Winston from Pilot if they need to, don't you think? Or, right there in Pilot, they can always just buy a case of beer or a few bottles of wine at Lowes, Food Lion, the corner gas station, etc. In other words regarding the evils of alcohol, Pilot isn't rural Ashe County — the cat's already out of the bag.
Having an ABC store and liquor-by-the-drink in town only means that responsible drinking adults in the area have the option of buying locally, and local businesses have the option of offering a potentially profitable product for sale.
Citizens who don’t mind seeing a restaurant serve liquor might not want to pass an ABC store while they’re walking downtown with their children.
This is weird to me: how could you mind one of those things and not the other? If anything, it seems like it would be the other way around — like, for instance, being in the presence of a smoker inside a restaurant (except that you don't leave a restaurant smelling like alcohol unless you're the one drinking or someone spills some of their on you). Further, ABC stores are pretty benign-looking places; I doubt a child in Pilot Mountain would be negatively affected by the sight of one. Matter of fact, as a little kid, I would supposedly ask my mom about the ABC store and 'could we go there and buy ABCs' — hardly a bad story.
But regardless of all this, there's only one way to find out if an ABC store and liquor-by-the-drink is the right idea for the Pilot Mountain residents: put it up for a vote and see what happens.
I'm sure there are very reliable stats on links between alcohol abuse and violent crime.
Actually, the correlation is fuzzy at best. Every set of statistics I've ever seen is polluted by other factors (other drugs, unemployment, social mores). It is also important to remember that correlation is not the same as causation. There is correlation between alcohol use and obesity, but that doesn't mean alcohol causes obesity.
This is weird to me: how could you mind one of those things and not the other?
I guess it doesn't have to make sense.
As I'm sure you can guess, my preference would be to deregulate alcohol altogether. When I have explained ABC stores to my friends from West of the Mississippi or acquaintances from Europe, all I get are puzzled expressions.
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