New Douglasville mayor under fire over vetoes

Persons’ actions unleashed waves of criticism. Opponents reminded anyone who would listen that candidate Persons once said he would support the referendum, while Mayor Persons yanked away his constituents right to vote. Some lamented the publicity that’s come with Persons’ vetoes has given the city a black eye.

Terry Miller, an architect whose office is next to a downtown pub, winced when talking about the issue.

“It’s one of those unfortunate things that, whenever Douglasville makes the news, it’s something like this,” said Miller, who ran unsuccessfully against Persons last year. “It makes us a joke to the bigger world”

Persons, an intense man who seems in constant motion, doesn’t see it that way. He said throngs of residents brought emotional arguments on alcohol sales. That, he said, convinced him to stand in the way of what some call progress. And, he said, he’s not taking away anyone’s right to vote.

“I was elected to make decisions. Do you vote on speed limits or zoning matters? No,” he said. “It’s just the right thing to do. It’s our community, it’s our right to set our standards. I’m not ashamed of that.”

Persons said it’s a public safety issue — more accessible alcohol will lead to more drunk drivers. He brushes off criticisms that his action makes the city look like it’s run by rubes.

“I think it will heighten our image,” said the retired salesman. “It shows we have a community that will take a stand.”

Persons has been bitten before by taking a stand. In 1995, he lost his council seat in a landslide after supporting an unpopular “pay-as-you-go” trash pickup system in which residents had to buy city-issued garbage bags.

Persons argued at the time that people just don’t like change. Now, he is being criticized as the one resisting change.

Some argue Persons’ church, Central Baptist, is driving the debate.

“This hue and cry that the world is coming to an end has been fabricated,” Councilman Carl Pope said. “It’s very peculiar that we’ve been deluged by just one denomination. We’ve heard nothing from the Presbyterians, from the Methodists or the Catholics.”

The Rev. Steve McFall, pastor of Central Baptist, said opposition to Sunday alcohol sales and extended drinking hours included the sheriff’s office and health professionals.

“It wasn’t just a bunch of rednecks and Bible thumpers up there,” said McFall. “It was a community health and public safety thing.”

McFall said part of the effort to keep alcohol laws as they are comes from residents who are trying to hang on to a way of life.

“You still have farmland in Douglas County,” the pastor said. “People want to maintain a suburban flavor and some of our rural setting. Native Douglas County people have had all of Atlanta that they want.”

The past two decades have seen the construction of Arbor Place Mall on I-20 and aggressive annexation. The city grew from 20,000 residents in 2000 to about 31,000 in 2010.

“Things have changed,” Pope said. “You’ve had an influx of people from all over, a lot more progressive people.”

Persons agrees the city has seen big changes. But it still has a small-town feel, he said as he carted trays of sweet tea to senior citizens at a luncheon last week.

“This is America, this is community,” he said, darting from table to table, hugging women and slapping men’s backs, sharing a word here, a hearty laugh there. “This is what it’s about.”

On Monday night, the City Council will meet to consider overriding his vetoes. Five votes out of the seven would do it.

The vote expanding the drinking hours was 5-2, so Persons has been trying to persuade one of the council members into changing his or her vote. The vote to allow the Sunday sales referendum was 7-0, so not even Persons is very hopeful of a different outcome.

“If they override my vetoes,” he said with a pause, a shrug and a smile, “I’ll respect that.”