Callands-Gretna residents get to decide on Sunday alcohol sales

CHATHAM — Callands-Gretna residents will decide in November whether they want Sunday beer and wine sales in their magisterial district.

That district includes most of northwestern Pittsylvania County, including the Town of Gretna and portions of the Smith Mountain Lake shore communities.

On a narrow 4-3 vote, the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted to put the question on the ballot in Callands-Gretna after the district’s supervisor, Fred Ingram, made the motion.

“All I’m trying to do is correct something that should be corrected,” Ingram said during the board’s regular meeting Tuesday night. “It’s foolish to keep this law on the books.”

Counties surrounding Pittsylvania allow Sunday beer and wine sales, Ingram said.

“The county’s around us … no one has this law,” Ingram said, adding that he proposed the referendum for his district only out of respect for his board colleagues.

“I don’t want to put you in harm’s way of anyone in your district,” Ingram told his fellow supervisors. 

It was Ingram’s second attempt this month to get the question put on the ballot in some form. Ingram made a similar motion during the board’s July 6 meeting proposing a countywide referendum. No one offered a second and the motion failed.

Supervisors have put the question of repealing the ban on Sunday beer and wine sales before voters twice since 1992. It failed both times. State law, however, allows supervisors to bypass a referendum and reverse the Sunday beer and wine ban with a board vote.

Voting in favor of the November ballot question were Ingram, Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker, Banister Supervisor William Pritchett and Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis. Board Chairman and Westover Supervisor Coy Harville, Tunstall Supervisor Tim Barber and Dan River Supervisor James Snead opposed the idea.

Ecker and Harville said their constituents have told them they do not want Sunday beer and wine sales in the county. Davis noted that numerous votes on whether to allow Sunday beer and wine sales in the county have failed.

About a dozen residents stood after Ingram asked supporters of Sunday beer and wine sales to stand up.

• Contact Crane at or (434) 791-7987.