County voters approve three alcohol questions

BY JOHN R. CRANE

(434) 791-7987

Supervisor Fred Ingram believes that voters in his district and his town may have “broke the ice” on the alcohol issue in Pittsylvania County.

Sunday beer-and-wine sales passed in Gretna and the sprawling, mostly rural Callands-Gretna district in northwestern Pittsylvania County. Gretna voters also approved liquor by the drink, according to unofficial numbers from the Pittsylvania County registrar’s office. Sunday beer and wine sales passed by a 1,217-1,054 vote in the district and by 161-108 in the town of Gretna, according to unofficial results.

Liquor by the drink passed in Gretna with 156 voting “yes” and 114 voting “no,” according to unofficial numbers. 

For Gretna resident Bill McBride, who pushed to get the liquor-by-the-drink question on the ballot, the thumbs-up from voters indicates the town is ready to move forward economically. The change will attract businesses, especially restaurants, to Gretna, McBride said Tuesday night.

“It’ll show Gretna is growing, that we’re not standing still,” McBride said of the voters’ decision.

Callands-Gretna Supervisor Fred Ingram, who spearheaded the effort to get the Sunday beer-and-wine sales question on the district’s ballot, praised Tuesday night’s results

“I’m very glad to see it happen in Pittsylvania County in the Callands-Gretna district,” Ingram said.

Ingram said the vote “broke the ice” on the alcohol issue in the county.

“I have a feeling that next year you’ll see that on the ballot in other parts of the county,” he added.

Most voters who spoke to the Danville Register & Bee favored the three ballot questions.

Callands resident Mark Walker, who voted for lifting the Sunday ban, wondered why Pittsylvania County still has the law.

“We’re the only county that don’t do it (allow Sunday beer-and-wine sales),” Walker said Tuesday just before voting at Callands Volunteer Fire Department. “What’s the big deal? I really don’t see what the big deal is.”

Allowing it would bring more money to the county and people have to drive to Franklin or Henry counties or Danville on Sundays to purchase alcoholic beverages, Walker said. 

Other voters, however, were leery of opening up Sundays to the sale of beer and wine.

“I do not think its right to sell it (or) drink it,” said Patsy Motley of Chatham, as she was entering the Climax Ruritan Club to cast her ballot. Alcoholic beverages are harmful to the people who drink it and the people around it, Motley said.

Mike Wanless of Chatham finds the Sunday ban out of date.

“I think it’s an antiquated law,” Wanless said.

  Joseph Towle voted against scrapping the law because beer and wine can be sold the remainder of the week.

  “I don’t think there’s a need for it,” Towle said.

  His wife, Debra Towle, disagreed and said she was voting in favor.

  “I’m voting ‘yes’ for the businesses,” she said. “I think they’ve earned it.”

At Gretna High School, town resident Angela Bowles said she voted in favor of Sunday beer-and-wine sales and liquor by the drink in the town because it needs the revenue. The extra revenue would help prevent increases in taxes, Bowles said.

Retaining the ban does not prevent alcohol consumption on Sundays, said Gretna voter Savanna Butts.

“People will drink on Sundays regardless of whether they buy it on Sundays or not,” Butts said.

James and Cathy McGhee said they support lifting the ban and selling liquor by the drink in Gretna.

“I think it would bring more businesses to Gretna,” Cathy said.

Rosa Pritchett voted against both questions because of the deadly consequences of drinking and driving.

“People drink and drive and they don’t think before they get out on the road and it kills people,” Pritchett said before voting at Gretna Elementary School. 

Alcohol has wreaked havoc on too many people, said Gretna resident Joan Yeatts. The drug has caused too much illness, death and other harm for her to support it, Yeatts said.

“I’m a staunch believer in community growth, but I have seen too much hurt and illness (from alcohol) in families that I could not vote for it,” Yeatts said. 

The Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors narrowly approved Ingram’s motion in July to put the Sunday sales question on the Callands-Gretna 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 were opposed.

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

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. 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.

Crane is a staff writer for the Danville Register & Bee.