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Boone to vote on liquor sales
It currently allows wine and beer
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Published: August 19, 2008
BOONE - Voters will head to the polls in Boone today to decide on liquor-by-the-drink for restaurants, hotels and other venues.
Boone currently allows beer and wine sales, but not liquor.
Polls will be open from 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. for voters to cast ballots on whether to allow the sale of mixed beverages.
Blowing Rock, Seven Devils and West Jefferson all permit mixed drinks to be sold. Supporters of liquor-by-the-drink in Boone say that the roads would actually be safer if mixed drinks are allowed in Boone.
"What happens is there's a lot of driving," said Skip Sinanian, a co-owner of Boone Saloon and the chairman of the ABC Task Force that asked for the referendum. "Our No. 1 point is if we have it here in town, it would be a matter of public safety."
Opponents of the proposal scoff at that argument.
"People still have to get home," said the Rev. Allan Blume of Mount Vernon Baptist Church. "I think it's going to be less safe.… Where is there one study that says the roads are safer after that?"
Boone voters approved ABC stores and the sale of beer and wine in restaurants in 1986. But a liquor-by-the-drink referendum failed by a 300-vote margin in 1993, with 1,793 people voting against it.
Sinanian said that the availability of mixed beverages would expand fine dining in Boone, increase tax revenue and keep people downtown. His group, which is made up of business people, university professors and others, has spent more time on trying to persuade people to get out and vote rather than on changing people's minds, he said.
They've made phone calls and run newspaper ads and radio spots.
The opposition hasn't been as visible. Blume said he expects that the proposal will pass, in part because many of the people who are strongly opposed will not be eligible to vote because they don't live in the town limits.
He said that at its heart, the issue is about greed, about drawing more tourists and money at the risk of people dying in alcohol-related wrecks on curvy mountain roads.
"I think that's an irresponsible message," he said.
There are 10,032 active eligible voters in Boone, according to elections officials. As of yesterday, 697 ballots had been cast in absentee and early voting.
If the proposal fails today, it cannot go on the ballot again for at least three years.
■ Monte Mitchell can be reached in Wilkesboro at 336-667-5691 or at mmitchell@wsjournal.com.
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