The petitions circulating for the sale of alcohol will definitely spark many debates on the pros and cons of the city of Quitman going wet.
Clarke County and the five municipalities have never come out from under the prohibition dry law in the State of Mississippi, with Clarke County being one of 32 counties in the state that is still completely dry for the sale of beer and alcohol.
The southern states began moving towards coming out from under the dry law by the early 1960’s with Mississippi becoming the final state to repeal its statewide ban on the sale of alcohol.
The law allows for local municipalities and counties to hold elections to allow the public to vote whether they want their town or county to remain dry or to legalize the sale of alcohol. There are petitions being circulated in the city of Quitman by some residents who feel the city will benefit with increased sales tax revenue if the sale of alcohol was legalized.
In 2013, the city of Waynesboro voted to go wet while the county of Wayne remains dry. One Waynesboro businessman stated that legalizing the sale of alcohol has actually been a positive thing with increased sales tax revenue for the city of Waynesboro and weekly arrests of driving under the influence decreasing.
You can find all the data you want to support any issue from crime rates in wet counties vs. dry counties, increase or decrease of traffic accidents, etc. The bottom line is, legalizing the sale of alcohol does not necessarily mean more people will be drinking, it means people will be purchasing it on a local level instead of neighboring counties receiving the sales tax benefits.
The National Alcohol Beverage Control data states that dry counties are becoming fewer and far between with more communities voting to go wet. Clarke County is surrounded by wet counties and it does not take an Einstein to figure out that Clarke Countians are crossing the county lines to purchase alcohol, therefore Clarke County and municipalities are losing out on sales tax revenue.
Alcohol is legal in the United States and by allowing the residents to vote whether to legalize the sale of beer doesn’t necessarily mean crime will run rampant because of it.
The bottom line, there are social pros and cons regarding this issue. Drinking alcohol is a personal choice and personal responsibility. Legalizing the sale of alcohol should be the choice of the people, not the government.
If enough signatures are received on the petition for the referendum, then the issue of legalizing the sale will go on a ballot and the public gets to decide, which the way it should be is.
