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Local Town Elections to Include Mixed Beverage Referendum

From staff reports

Members of the Gate City Planning Commission want town residents to decide if the town should allow restaurants to serve mixed alcoholic beverages and they are seeking signatures to put the question on the May 6, 2008 ballot.

Planning members are circulating petitions that state:

"Shall the sale of mixed alcoholic beverages by restaurants licensed by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board be permitted in [the] Town of Gate City, Scott County, Virginia?"

Only 161 signatures of registered voters that live in the town limits are needed to place the referendum on the May ballot, explained Gate City’s Interim Town Manager Cindy Coates.

Organizers handed in several sheets of signatures they have garnered over the past few weeks at last night’s public meeting on the proposed Community Development Block Grant. Town officials believe the mixed beverage option is necessary for future growth and development.

Signatures on the petitions must be certified by the State Board of Elections 30 days prior to the May 6 election in order for the referendum to be on the ballot.

Coates said 10 percent of the registered voters, estimated at 161, must sign the petition to allow Gate City voters to make the final decision. She explained the town has set an informal deadline of March 3, 2008 before all petitions are handed over to the state for verification.

Members of the planning commission asked the town to consider the referendum option after some local residents asked them to. Those folks were concerned because many town residents travel to Kingsport, Tenn. and Johnson City, Tenn. to eat at restaurants that serve alcohol and believed the ordinance could stimulate the local economy.

“The sale of mixed alcoholic beverages is necessary if we want to bring in a hotel or nice restaurant,” Coates added.

A lot of our residents have no problem going to Kingsport or Johnson City and eating at Applebee’s or other restaurants that serve alcohol and if we had it available here, we all would receive tax benefits, she stated.

Members of the Scott County Economic Development Authority have publicly stated the necessity of having mixed beverages available, especially in terms of economic development. The idea was also a major component of the county’s Strategic Development Committee’s final recommendations.

But some local residents have been hesitant to sign the petition because they don’t want others to see their names on it. By signing the petition, Coates said, doesn’t mean that you will vote for it in May but it is the only way we can ask the question is to have enough people sign this petition.

Only registered voters who live in the Town of Gate City are eligible to sign the petition.

Gate City does allow beer and wine sales at approved restaurants as long as they are located on the south side of Jackson Street. Currently, El Portillo sells beer and could sell wine if they sought another version of their current ABC license.

Town residents will also vote for town council members and the mayor in May. Only four of the sitting council members have formally declared their candidacy. Rita Tipton, Tommy Herron, Frances Perry and Roger Cassell are seeking new terms on the council while current incumbent Carl Hurt has yet to file his paperwork.

Residents of Duffield, Dungannon, Clinchport and Weber City will also chose their leaders in May. At press time, Karen Lynn Powers was seeking the mayor’s seat in Dungannon while George Lane and Carl Smith were seeking new terms on the Weber City Town Council.

The deadline to file to run in the town elections is March 4 at 7 p.m.

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