Callands-Gretna voters decide on Sunday alcohol sales

Voters in the Callands-Gretna magisterial district and the town of Gretna get to decide Tuesday whether they want Sunday beer-and-wine sales in their respective communities.

Gretna town residents will also vote on whether to approve liquor by the drink.

Fred Ingram, who represents Callands-Gretna on the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, proposed the district’s ballot question in July and feels confident people will vote yes.

“It’s simply the right thing to do,” Ingram said Friday of allowing Sunday beer-and-wine sales in Callands-Gretna.

Approving Sunday beer and wine sales will help keep money in the district by preventing residents from spending their dollars in other communities that allow Sunday sales, Ingram said.

“The drinking of alcohol is not the issue,” Ingram said. “The issue is keeping the money at home.”

Small businesses are already burdened with taxes, Ingram said, and government shouldn’t stand in the way of them selling beer and wine on Sunday. 

The Board of Supervisors narrowly approved Ingram’s motion in July to put the question on the district’s ballot by a 4-3 vote. Ingram, Staunton River Supervisor Marshall Ecker, Banister Supervisor William Pritchett and Chatham-Blairs Supervisor Hank Davis voted in favor, while Westover Supervisor and Board Chairman Coy Harville, Dan River Supervisor James Snead and Tunstall Supervisor Tim Barber opposed.

An earlier attempt by Ingram to get the question on a countywide ballot failed because no one seconded the motion.

“Anybody else would not even touch this,” Ingram said Friday.

Pittsylvania County voters have rejected lifting the ban on Sunday beer-and-wine twice since 1992. However, state law allows the board to bypass a referendum and reverse the ban with a vote among supervisors.

As for Gretna’s Sunday beer-and-wine question, the town council voted unanimously in May to approve the referendum, while the liquor-by-the-drink question had to be approved via resident petitions. Resident Bill McBride submitted petitions — which had to have signatures from at least 10 percent of the town’s 723 voters — in Pittsylvania County Circuit Court in August to get the question on the town’s ballot.

Gretna Town Manager David Lilly said he has never seen anything positive to come from the consumption of alcoholic beverages. However, he said he can see the economic benefits of allowing Sunday beer-and-wine sales and liquor by the drink. Some chain restaurants, such as Applebee’s, will not locate to a town that restricts the sale of alcoholic beverages, he said. 

Lilly, who lives in the county outside the town of Gretna, declined to reveal how he will vote Tuesday

“That’s my secret,” Lilly said.

Gretna Mayor Glenna Lingafelt said the issue is for each to decide on their own.

“For me personally, whatever good might come from the sale and use of alcohol is greatly outweighed by the harm that it does and the cost to individuals, family and friends,” Lingafelt said.

Lingafelt, who has already voted, declined to reveal her electoral decision on the matter. 

• Staff writer Catherine Amos contributed to this story.