No Sunday booze sales in Snellville

After a spirited debate, the Snellville City Council rejected passing an ordinance that would have allowed Sunday alcohol sales at local restaurants.

The council, in what seems to be growing deadlock fashion, voted 3-3 Monday night, which in effect killed the Sunday liquor-by-the-drink measure brought forward by Mayor Jerry Oberholtzer.

Oberholtzer said residents, through a 2004 referendum, approved alcohol sales and that it’s time the city made good on that vote — and in the process help struggling businesses that have to compete with drink-pouring restaurants that sit right outside the city limits.

“In our hard times, most of our businesses are fighting just to stay alive,” Oberholtzer said. “This is truly about the economic well- being of these businesses and leveling the playing field.”

But Councilman Warren Auld said the 2004 referendum didn’t address Sunday sales specifically and that voting on the ordinance “would be an illegal vote.

“This isn’t about freedom or about choice,” Auld added. “It’s a question about location, where we’re going to have Sunday sales.”

To counter Oberholtzer’s economic argument, Auld suggested creating an all-volunteer development committee to generate an economic strategy for the city.

Oberholtzer balked. “You can have all the committees you want … but what we’ve done is hamstrung our development,” he said. “We do have an election this year, and you’re playing both ends against the middle.”

As for the 2004 referendum, Oberholtzer said the ordinance that resulted from that was legally sound and reviewed by a previous city attorney, Thomas Mitchell.

Mayor Pro Tem Barbara Bender said she wasn’t on the council in 2004 but supported the measure. “That the council sat up here and changed the rules … that disheartened me.”

But Councilman Robert Jenkins was disheartened by Oberholtzer’s arguments. He downplayed revenue generated by additional fees and questioned the mayor’s contention that restaurants are closing down because they can’t pour alcohol on Sundays.

“It’s foolish to believe we cannot be a successful city if we don’t have Sunday sales,” Jenkins said. “If the city of Snellville dies because we don’t have Sunday sales, at least we’ll die sober.”

Applause erupted from the crowd of more than 150 residents who filled the council chambers at City Hall.

One of the residents who addressed the council was Shirley Harbin. The 43-year resident told the council how she regretted her many years of drinking and that “if I had it my way, we wouldn’t have alcohol at all.”

Larry Rutledge, a deacon at Snellville First Baptist Church, said passing the ordinance just “adds the possibility of somebody else getting killed on the highway.”

But resident Margaret Van Buren countered that reasoning, saying “you can’t blame restaurants for selling liquor by the drink for all the drunks on the road.”

Nona Jones, a manager of O’Charley’s restaurant, told the council that although her business isn’t dying, it’s not growing either.

“We are hurting,” Jones said. “We’re not asking to take people away from God … just asking to be able to serve people the way businesses do a mile away.”