Vote on alcohol sales in W’burg set for May 16

At least 608 Williamsburg residents want restaurants in town to be able to sell alcohol, and they along with the other nearly 3,600 registered Williamsburg voters will decide May 16 whether to allow it.
Whitley County Clerk Tom Rains office certified the list of names, which were filed on a nearly 300-page petition Friday afternoon to allow the limited sale of alcoholic beverages at restaurants.
The measure would allow the sale of alcohol at restaurants that seat at least 100 people, and derive 70 percent of their sales from food. It is identical to a question approved by Corbin voters on May 20, 2003, by a vote of 1,152 to 941.
“Corbin and London have both passed it. Those communities have seen tremendous benefits to selling alcoholic beverages by the drink in restaurants. It does create a lot of opportunities,” said Paul Croley, the attorney who filed the petition. “Economically, it has created jobs, and things like that. I think people from Williamsburg now realize it is time for us to take advantage of those opportunities as well.
“If not, we are going to regress as opposed to building our communities like these other two cities have. Also, I think both of those communities have seen that there has not been an increase in DUI’s, and alcohol related offenses, and things like that, which a lot of people were afraid of.”
Croley said there is no formal name or organization of people, who are pushing the alcohol referendum.
“I represent a concerned group of citizens, who believe it is time that Williamsburg move forward, and take advantage of a lot of the opportunities that this would create for our city,” Croley said. “It hasn’t been spearheaded by one particular person here.
“I don’t have any financial interest in this. It is just a group of concerned citizens here in Williamsburg, who have gotten together, and decided we need this.”
Croley said he is “very confident” the referendum will be approved by voters, but admits that he doesn’t think the measure would have stood much of a chance 10 years ago.
Williamsburg Mayor Roddy Harrison said he wasn’t surprised someone filed a petition to put the alcohol question on the ballot given that Corbin and London have already approved sales.
“I can’t say I’m surprised the interest was there,” Harrison said. In terms of whether the measure will be approved, Harrison said he isn’t sure.
“I’ve had a lot of people ask me. Some days I think yes, and some days I’m not sure. I just think it is a different day. If it goes it will be because the majority wants it to go that is the bottom line, and why you put it on the ballot to see what people want,” Harrison noted.
Harrison said he can understand the arguments both sides will have concerning the vote.
“To me it is more of a restaurant vote than it is anything else that is what I am hearing. People signed the petition because they want to see restaurants here that’s the way I’m looking at it,” Harrison said.
Only voters in the six Williamsburg precincts will be voting on the measure.
Rains said the question on the ballot is clear cut unlike some constitutional amendments that appear on the ballot.
“It is yes or no. Are you in favor of the sale of alcohol?” he noted. “There is no question that it will increase the voter turnout in the City of Williamsburg. It will possibly increase the voter turnout by 6 to 7 percent more, maybe even 10 percent more in what is already a major election.”
Rains said the vote in Corbin three years ago brought out a lot of people that hadn’t voted in several years.
Rains said he based this on phone calls his office got that day from people wanting to know where their voting precincts were.
“That tells you they hadn’t voted in a while,” he noted.
The election turnout in Corbin for the wet/dry vote was estimated to be 45 percent compared to a 10 to 12 percent turnout for the remainder of the county.
In order to place the question on the ballot, the petition had to have the signatures of a number equal to 25 percent of the people who voted in the last Williamsburg election, which was November 2004.
511 certified signatures were needed to place the measure on the ballot.
Rains said the 511 figure was higher than the 350 signatures Corbin had to have to place its question on the ballot because the figures were based upon the last presidential election, which saw a record number of voters.
When the Corbin petition was filed in March 2003, 601 signatures were certified on the nearly 800-signature petition.
Croley estimated that there were over 700 total signatures on the Williamsburg petition.
Whitley County Judge-Executive Burley Foley signed an order Friday afternoon placing the Williamsburg question on the May 16 primary ballot.
“It is much more economical for it to be on the ballot May 16 rather than have a special election, which would cost us between $8,000 and $10,000,” Rains said.