LETTER TO THE EDITOR

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On August 11 voters in Pell City will decide whether packaged alcohol (beer, wine and liquor) can be sold on Sundays in the city limits. The arguments both pro and con on the surface sound compelling, but actually they are rather weak.

Those in favor of the referendum to allow Sunday sales say they are losing business because the neighboring counties and towns allow such sales. They might say they are losing business to stores in those counties.

The cost of losing business to other counties is not a new subject here. It is something local officials have talked about for a long time. Many local residents work outside the county and as a result spend a considerable portion of their income outside Pell City.

When Pell City residents spend their money elsewhere not only do local business lose out on retail revenue but the county, along with the municipalities of St. Clair don’t receive any tax dollars as a result of those purchases.

More purchases in the county are important for the creation of jobs and allowing our governments to provide services and infrastructure many of us desire.

While the retail revenue and taxes collected by allowing Sunday alcohol sales would help in all three of those areas, it probably would not amount to much. There are probably approximately a dozen stores that could take advantage of the change in the law if it is passed. How much revenue, both retail and tax, they would generate from being able to sell alcohol on Sundays is most likely negligible.

One reason is that currently most consumers of alcohol are wise enough to realize that if they want to have something to drink on Sunday they’d best buy it before the stores close on Saturday. In other words some, if not a great deal, of the increased revenue from Sunday sales would likely just be subtracted from Saturday’s totals.

On the other hand arguments against Sunday alcohol sales are often focused on the negative effects it can have on individuals, families and society. Concerns regarding the downsides to alcohol use and abuse are valid. But just as the argument to allow the sales based on possible increased revenues does not seem to hold much water, neither does this one.

As stated above most people wanting a Sunday drink have either purchased their supply ahead of time; or if not are willing to drive to a neighboring county. Forbidding Sunday alcohol sales will most likely do very little, if anything, to prevent Sunday drinking.

What it comes down to is that while those speaking in favor of the referendum and those who are against it, are doubtlessly both very ardent in their beliefs; neither side’s argument appears to be very solid.

However there is perhaps one other side to the issue that some might want to consider.

Many residents have chosen to live in Pell City because it is different, because it is not Birmingham or some other community.

Living here means we gain some things but at the same time we sacrifice others. That is part of the uniqueness of living here. Anytime we choose to change something so we can be like somewhere else, part of that uniqueness is lost.

Encouraging You to Vote, 

Dr. Chris Aldridge, Pastor

Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church