During a public hearing Monday at Athens City Hall, Ralph Diggins of Athens urges the City Council to approve the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays in order to help the city and schools, help existing businesses, and help lure new businesses and new jobs.

Only five people spoke against the possible legalization of Sunday alcohol sales in Athens during a public hearing Monday.

The majority spoke in favor of a proposal before the City Council to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sundays. About 70 people turned out for the hearing at City Hall.

City Council members will vote on the proposal at a later date. They held the public hearing to get a feel for what residents want since residents will not be voting on the matter.

Council members decided to vote on Sunday sales themselves and obtained permission from the state Legislature and the governor to do so.

Jason Parnell, of Athens, a father of a 15-year-old daughter who is going to be a motorist, pastor at New Life Assembly of God and a member of the Athens Limestone Ministerial Alliance, asked the council to let the people vote.

“Give the city of Athens the opportunity to vote on this rather than the City Council,” he said. “Let the people’s personal convictions come out that way.”

He said between 1990 and 2000, there was a study done in New Mexico and there was a 29 percent increase in fatalities due to alcohol when it added another day (Sunday).

Kevin Ward, director of mission for the Limestone Baptist Association, said he watched his 56-year-old granddaddy “drink himself to death.”

He questioned why if the city brought in $7.5 million in alcohol revenue since the city went “wet” in 2004 it could not afford $40,000 for to call an election on whether to approve the sale of alcohol on Sundays.

He said a 2010 Centers for Disease Control study showed $249 billion in “excessive costs” in the United States due to binge drinking— five drinks for men and four for women. He said that works out to $807 per person.

“Our churches pick up the pieces of the families that are busted up and broken up from a multitude of things but alcohol has a cost” beyond the numbers, he said.

Kenny Baskins, of Athens, pastor of First United Methodist Church, said he came to the public hearing not as pastor of the church but as himself.

He said he was coming home from a revival on Friday, April 16, 1993, when a driver in Shelby County who had been to a local establishment, had a meal with his family and had “one too many” ran a stop sign and struck his vehicle. As a result, his arm now has a cadaver bone that allows him to use it and his right leg is shorter than the other.

“I still deal with those issues constantly,” he said. “I’m opposed to people who have one drink who get behind the wheel of an automobile and drive. Period.”

He said he remembers when Florence had blue laws and when there was a debate about whether stores (any stores) would be open on Sundays.

“Here we are not too may years later debating whether we are going to sell alcohol on Sundays,” he said. “How far have we come?”

He apologized to the council and the citizens if any people back in 2003 who opposed legalizing the sale of alcohol acted in any way that was not “Christ like,” but he said he didn’t think the council should assume that. He said in 2003 when the citizens voted on whether to go “wet,” the ordinance clearly stated sales would be Monday through Saturday. For that reason, he said he thought residents should vote on whether to allow sales on Sundays.

In also said, “I know that people are gonna do whatever people are gonna do, but by George you don’t have to encourage it. We don’t have to make it easy for ’em. I know it will increase tax revenue but I wonder at what cost to our community.”

Dusty McLemore of Athens, senior pastor at Lindsay Lane Baptist Church, said, “I have my own conviction about alcohol. Everybody in this room has their own conviction about alcohol, but my concern is the precedent that we are setting by not letting the people vote… I think it is a decision that every citizen of Athens needs to make on their own. That way you get a true vote. Everybody has their voice. The people decide. That’s democracy and I believe that’s the way it ought to be handled. Because you are setting a precedent. I trust you guys; I know most of all of you. I know our mayor. I trust you but what about 10 years from now if you don’t have the same council or mayor and you have someone setting those kinds of precedents in the future?”

He said he believed Athens could continue to prosper like it has without Sunday alcohol sales. He said some people are moving to Athens because of its values; moving away from other cities to the values in Athens.

Joe Carlucci, of Joe’s World Famous Pizza in Athens, said he is opposed to Sunday alcohol sales and he does not believe the absence of Sunday sales would necessarily hurt a business. He said his restaurant was open on Sunday this past Christmas and it was their best day of the year.

“If (business owners) say they are losing business or losing sales because they cannot sell alcohol on Sundays what they need to do is look at their sales, their customer service and their food,” he said. “If Chic-Fil-A opened on Sunday and they didn’t serve alcohol, do you thing they would lose sales? Absolutely not. They would do the same amount.”

He said alcohol sales is not a guarantee (to increase sales) for any business owner, he said.

Speaking for Sunday sales

Kelly Range of Athens said for three of four years he has been talking to the City Council and to the public about the need for Sunday sales.

“It’s a matter of choice,” Range said. “Joe (Carlucci) has brought this up as a matter of choice. Chic-Fil-A chooses to be closed on Sunday. Joe chooses to be closed on Sunday. A lot of people choose to go to Madison. A lot of people choose to go to Huntsville because they can’t get their choice here… You have a choice to make whether you want a 15- to 20-percent increase in your revenue? Whether you want people and independent restaurants like Joe’s to come into Athens and for Athens to grow. Yes, we could have let the citizens make the choice but the citizens have already chosen — twice.”

By that he meant the city voters voted to got wet in 2003 and voted to stay wet in 2007.

He said the city is getting “swallowed up” by Madison and Huntsville, and it wont be long before Huntsville (which allows Sunday sales) builds something at Tanner on the highway.

“Are we really going to pass up our future because of a bad choice?” Range said. “Choices are made by adults — good choices or bad choices. The choice (for the council) is to vote for this resolution on the 19th because it is going to put Athens forward and we will go forward with more revenue and more quality of life.”

Brenda Selby of Athens said, “I think it’s really a no-brainer. Sunday alcohol sales are not a terrible thing. It benefits our schools, it benefits our kids, it benefits our community. I used to live in New York and Pennsylvania. They would laugh at this; this is a joke. We need better restaurants. We need restaurants on the Interstate that are bigger restaurants and we need restaurants that are downtown. We have a beautiful, beautiful downtown that could be made into restaurants and bars like in Decatur. It’s up to the individual person if they want to drink too much and mishandled that situation or if they want to be responsible and enjoy their life. A community going forward: Madison is getting closer to us. We are going to be the next big boom, and if you don’t make this go forward – just like the Alabama lottery — it’s just a joke. Other people have money for growth. Other states have money for everything, but not Alabama and not Mississippi.”

Greg Skipworth of Athens said he did not wish to speak about alcohol but only that he believes it is the council’s job to vote directly on Sunday sales rather than the public at large.

“You appealed to the state Legislature for the opportunity to decide as a City Council and so I think that’s how it should be decided,” he said. “You were elected to represent the city, and in any arena that does not require a public vote you should be making the decision. That is why you were elected. Whether it is alcohol or taxes or anything else, if you have the opportunity then you have the responsibility to make the decision…”

Melanie Newton, of MainStreet Athens, said MainStreet Alabama did a market snapshot of Athens MainStreet for the period from June 2014 to September 2016. The snapshot talked about leakage, or the loss of sales to surrounding areas. Regarding eating and drinking establishments (in the downtown Athens district only), the study showed leakage was 56.7 in the red.

“I think we need to vote ‘yes’ for Sunday sales and that will allow us to attract our well-educated young people who leave and go to college and who are used to a different way of life,” she said, adding this was true for her when she came here after living in other places.

Teresa Todd, of Athens-Limestone County Tourism, encouraged the council to vote to legalize Sunday sales. She said she talks to new people moving here who are surprised when they do go to our restaurants and they don’t have Sunday sales. She said tourists who come from other communities are not used to seeing a community dry on Sundays.

Robert Glenn, of Athens, who is also president of Athens State University, said, “I am here to support the passage of the legislation because it is an economic reality that we are losing business to other parts of our region, and this is a straightforward and logical way for you to monitor and regulate alcohol sales, as you are elected to do. The people of Athens have already spoken — not once but twice — on this issue in favor of the sale of alcohol. They have elected you to regulate it. So, this is an issue of regulation and it is a matter of simple economics. Your difficult task is to manage the finances of the city of Athens. To do so, you have look for ways to generate revenue. If you were to propose a tax, this room would be full, that street outside would be full, and there would be folks down the road all waiting to speak against it because none of us likes new taxes. But, you’re are not proposing new tax. You are allowing the regulations to be altered in a way to generate additional revenue without ordering new taxes. I would encourage you to vote ‘yes’ on this issue… I think it is the right thing to do for the city of Athens.”

Earl Hunt of Athens said he has been involved in legalized sales issues since the middle to late 1990s and was very involved in some of the ordinances passed previously.

“Back then I said it over and over: It’s an economic development issue, but it’s also a quality of life issue,” he said. “For us to continue to prosper as a community and build facilities, like the one were sitting in right now, as well as what Limestone County did with the courthouse… For those things to continue, legalized sales on Sundays is part of a formula that we have in place to continue to compete with our neighboring communities…”

Ralph Diggins of Athens urged the council to vote ‘yes’ on Sunday sales for several reasons. He said it would increase revenue that could be used to pay for new and existing services, such as the proposed recreation center and school system improvements. He said the revenue would help cover the continuing need for improvements to general maintenance, operations and public safety. He said with Sunday sales, the city could “put in place a platform to encourage economic growth through the opportunity of new business expansion.” Existing business owners, meanwhile, would have the opportunity to expand and increase their revenue base. He said legalizing the sale of alcohol on Sundays could also translate into new job opportunities in the city.

The hearing was ongoing at press time Monday.