Sunday sales liquor foes not done yet

“Sunday sales” — those are fighting words in Georgia.

So many people find it odd that bills that could open the door to Sunday alcohol sales are moving so quickly through the Legislature.

That’s merely a prologue, though. The real battles lie ahead, in city council chambers, churches and polling places throughout the state — and the topic elicits strong feelings on both sides of the issue.

“I hate liquor. It causes lots of problems,” said Parvin Raeisian, 64, of Dunwoody. “People are not doing anything [on Sundays], so they’ll be drinking and driving. It’s an opportunity to do damage to lives.”

Jeffrey McLean, 51, of Atlanta wants the government to butt out. “It’s one more finger they get to stick in your life,” he said. “It infringes on personal rights. It’s government control of behavior.”

The measure before the Legislature is expected to pass, and Gov. Nathan Deal has indicated that he will sign it.

Then it will be up to local officials — city councils or, in unincorporated areas, county commissioners — to decide whether to put the question of selling beer, wine and liquor at stores on Sunday before voters.

It’s there, at the local level, where a handful of committed congregations or a couple of major retailers can affect opinions within a community; where neighbors and friends will have to find their own balance between moral concerns, individual freedoms and economic imperatives.

The traditional foes of Sunday sales, primarily religious organizations, say they will mount organized campaigns at the county and city level. A recent poll suggests that they will find a ready audience in many sections of the state.

The poll by InsiderAdvantage of 456 registered voters across the state found that metro Atlantans favored Sunday sales, 66 percent to 23 percent. North and central Georgia residents were opposed, but by margins of less than 10 points. South Georgians were strongly opposed, 63 to 31 percent.

Even in the metro area, opponents say they stand a chance of defeating any measures put to voters in Fayette and Coweta counties.

“I think it would be a coin toss,” said Coweta County Commissioner Bob Blackburn. “It would depend on who could get out the stronger vote.”

Jerry Luquire, president of the Georgia Christian Coalition, promised to be there in the trenches. “We’re grass-rooting,” he said. “It is a very strong priority issue.”

The coalition’s primary weapon, its 33,000-member e-mail list, can be a potent force in a local election, he said. “When a local official gets 30 or 40 phone calls from people, that measures up.”

On the other side, proponents of the measure note that Georgia is among only three states, along with Connecticut and Indiana, that prohibit all retail sales of beer, wine and liquor on Sundays.

Supermarket managers say that each Sunday they regularly put back dozens of six packs and wine bottles that customers bring to the register. Lifting the ban on Sunday alcohol sales, they say, would benefit not only grocery and convenience stores but local governments, which might reap greater tax revenues in a time of deep budget cuts.

“For us, it’s a convenience factor more than anything,” said Publix Super Markets spokeswoman Brenda Reid. Publix is working with the Georgia Food Industry Association to lobby in favor of the bill, she said.

“We have a good amount of square footage devoted to beer and wine that we can’t use 52 days out of the year,” she said. “We want to sell broadly across the store.”

Although the measure would also appear to benefit liquor stores, some of their owners say the costs of opening their stores a seventh day would exceed any profits.

Stony McGill, assistant director of the Georgia Alcohol Dealers Association, said nearly all GADA’s members would prefer the law to remain unchanged.

“Our folks do not see additional revenue. They just see additional expenses,” he said. “The majority of our membership would prefer the bill go away.”

David Greenbaum, general manager of Tower Beer, Wine and Spirits, which has stores in Buckhead and Doraville, said Tower will open on Sundays if the bill passes, but not with any great enthusiasm.

“It might be a little of a loss,” he said. But “we want to be here for our customers.”

The first people to feel the heat if the Legislature clears the way for local elections on the issue will be thousands of city council members and county commissioners. Several said they will be in no rush to put the issue to voters unless they hear a strong call to do so.

Cobb County Commission Chairman Tim Lee believes that if put to a vote, Sunday sales would likely pass in unincorporated Cobb. But he’s not pushing the issue.

“I’ll wait to see if there is a groundswell or grass-roots effort from the community asking us to put it on the ballot,” he said. “I would think if put on the ballot, it would likely pass.”

Fayette County Commissioner Allen McCarty isn’t as certain.

“We are a very conservative county. Most of the people in the county probably would not favor it,” McCarty said. “But this is a fairly new issue, and we are in the process of deciding what to do about it. We want to find out how people feel.”

Jayson Wehrend, 32, of Roswell, already knows how he feels.

Like countless Georgians, he remembers running to the store late on Saturday to buy alcohol, only to get there too late.

“It irritated me,” he said. “I’m happily going to vote for this.”

Bill Usher, 81, of Dunwoody, couldn’t feel more differently. Years ago he survived a bus crash caused by a drunken driver that killed eight people.

He fears that another day of alcohol sales means more reckless behavior.

“It’s dangerous,” he said, “to the people doing it and to others.”

THE PROCESS

The bill for Sunday alcohol sales at stores passed the Senate State and Local Government Operations Committee last week.

It could come to the Senate floor for a full vote within weeks.