“A thirst for change in Starkville?” by Jordan Novet has gotten some play nationally. AP moved the story with it appearing at Forbes.com and Yahoo’s Finance section.
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I don’t know who took this task on, but I’m glad they did. If you support Sunday Sales, tell your representative.
Well I’m glad 67.3% of people who responded to the Starkville Daily sunday sales poll have a brain.
http://www.starkvilledailynews.com/content/view/157510/1/
Take a look at the ingenious arguments put forth by the people who are against beer sales on Sundays… These people are bound and determined to keep Starkville in the 1940′s. One lady is even afraid to leave her house!!!!!!!! Yes, America, this is some of the backwards thinking we are still dealing with around here. Thank God we have a new board of aldermen and this way of thinking is on its way out.
Though I write reluctantly, under the consideration that this has been a longstanding “hot” topic in our beloved Starkville, I can say that I am proud of the progress being made on the challenge of making this a public discussion instead of an underground, speculative hotbed of morally outrageous fear.
Nods and kudos to Robbie Ward for advocacy, Coblentz, the Dispatch, and SDN for coverage, and our new Aldermen for that continued effort. I am sure that what was considered a “moral” issue previously will successfully be considered a rational, calmed version under the heading of an “economic” issue by the time it passes. Our town is more progressive than we think, in other words.
In this “hot” topic, I have overheard the discussion of paying additional DUI-enforcement cops for Sunday patrolling versus the expected tax revenue from Sunday sales? Does anyone know where I might locate these figures, or does anyone have any general knowledge that would support the argument on either side? Common sense would say that the revenue would more than cover the cost of additional patrolling from both the Sheriff and Police Departments, right?
Cheers, Starkville!
-A
Alan, I don’t have statistics but I heard blood ran in the streets and the sun didn’t shine for two years when Columbus passed Sunday Sales. (how’s that for rational and calm?)
You might want to look at:
Smart, R. G., and Mann, R. E. Treatment, health promotion and alcohol controls and the decrease of alcohol consumption and problems in Ontario, 1975-1973. Alcohol and Alcoholism, 1995, 30, 257-343;
Ligon, Jan; Thyer, Bruce A..”Drinking, Eating, and Driving: Evaluating the Effects of Partially Removing a Sunday Liquor Sales Ban”. Journal of Alcohol & Drug Education, Fall96, Vol. 42 Issue 1, p15
Neither of these studies found any increase in DUI, or DUI related accidents on Sundays. Typically if surrounding communities allow Alcohol sales and yours does not DUI goes up for your community. Prohibition doesn’t work, you’d think the 18th amendment would have taught us something. Maybe the county will also wake up and realize that restricting sales actually results in the problems they think the current laws prevent.
A great resource on the web for this topic is:
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/index.html
This site is well documented with just about anything you’d want to know.
Whatever you do stay away from The Robertwood Johnson Foundation. You’ve probably heard of them, they are a well funded prohibition propaganda group. Their most famous work attempted to show that DUI related fatalities in NM rose dramatically after the lifting of Sunday alcohol prohibition. Of course they didn’t take into account population increase or an increase in posted speed limits. A professor at UGA looked into this and found no increase in DUI related traffic fatalities during the window of the study 1990-2000.
I’ve been following this topic for a while now. I haven’t really found a very good reason for why we shouldn’t allow alcohol sales on Sunday. I’ve read the arguments some people have made in the SDN about why we shouldn’t allow sales on Sunday, and it all makes me wonder is driving and drinking in our community that high? I can easily imagine that texting/talking on the cellphone while driving would be much higher.
Maybe some of you can help me get some answers on these questions:
Is it really just a matter of drinking and driving? what else are we trying to prevent/prove/disprove here?
Does anyone have numbers of drinking and driving related accidents for Starkville? How many of these accidents occurred on Sunday?
How many DUI on average happen during the week? the weekend? and especially on Sunday?
Will allowing Sunday sales increase the number of accidents related to drinking? by how much? (just a guess)
If you really need a drink on Sunday, does the current ban on alcohol sale stop you from getting your fix?
If we are concerned about road accidents, I wouldn’t focus on one day of the week or one reason without considering everything else. Have you really thought about how many accidents have been caused by talking or texting on a cellphone while driving?
Recent studies show that using a cellphone while driving is more dangerous than drinking and driving. Here are a few references:
http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Drivingissues/20060830105036.html
http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/06/25/texting-is-more-dangerous-than-driving-drunk/
So how many cellphone related accidents occurred in Starkville? If we ban texting/talking on the phone while driving, how many accidents would we avoid?
I totally understand that drinking and driving is very dangerous and has cause much grief to many families. I do not mean to underestimate the dangers of drinking and driving, but I really don’t think it is an issue of a day of the week, people who want to drink will drink regardless of the day or limitations we put on them. We need to focus on education and solving the underlying issues of drinking and driving. I doubt that any of these has any relation with when and where alcohol is sold.
The “no liquor sales on Sunday” is merely a remnant of the Blue Laws that began in the 1700′s in the American Colonies for the Christian Sabbath. The Blue Laws have been repealed in most states, yet not all. For example, Colorado did not allow alcohol sales on Sunday until 2008. And, there is still a town in New Jersey that closes retail stores on Sundays – at least according to what I read. Therefore, Starkville isn’t as “backwards” as BillyBad states.
And, I personally don’t think that the majority of opposition to the repeal is based on a “speculative hotbed of morally outrageous fear” as Alan Couey states. Rather, I fondly remember growing up in a small Delta town when NOTHING was open on Sundays. We went to church and spent time with our families at home. Or played at a friends house. I thought it was so weird when we traveled and stores in the big cities were open, back then.
In a time of moral decay, lack of individual responsibility, and loss of respect for self and others, I wonder if we are headed in the right direction. Yet, as a person who believes in limited government I agree that Sunday alcohol sales should be allowed.
KO, who’s your people? (I, too, am a flat-footed Deltan in Starkville, but I know you probably won’t answer this question because you were reluctant to post a real name in connection to your thoughts. Either way, good to know I’m in good company.)
Furthermore:
“The ‘no liquor sales on Sunday’ is merely a remnant of the Blue Laws that began in the 1700’s in the American Colonies for the Christian Sabbath…
…Rather, I fondly remember growing up in a small Delta town when NOTHING was open on Sundays. We went to church and spent time with our families at home…
…In a time of moral decay, lack of individual responsibility, and loss of respect for self and others, I wonder if we are headed in the right direction. Yet, as a person who believes in limited government I agree that Sunday alcohol sales should be allowed.”
I don’t get it. It’s not based on speculation that there is moral decay, but it is a factor, and it’s not a religious issue, but we need to go back to Mayberry and close everything on Sundays so we can be nostalgic and worship the Lord (a religious figure in whom not every Starkville resident believes, might I add)?
Someone clarify. Is this or is this not a religious issue in Starkville (which, in my opinion, should not even BE connected to personal preference in spirituality)? Again, as a transplant from Greenville by way of Jackson by way of Hattiesburg, I guess I’m just a confused little MethodiCath (yes, it’s possible) who just wants to be able to buy a beer on a Sunday.
We need to look no farther than our sister city to the east on this one. Columbus has had Sunday sales for some time. Their police chief ought to be able to produce the number of alcohol related arrests on Sundays as compared to other days of the week.
That would give us a realistic expectation as to what we can expect here. My guess is it’s not that big an issue in Columbus. You sure don’t read about it or see stories on the news. I’m sure it will keep Starkville police a bit busier, especially when school is in. Would the new revenue generated by Sunday sales offset new costs to police it? I think it would, last time I checked Starkville P.D. worked Sundays anyway.
While I’m not an historian, prohibiting the sale of alcohol on Sunday is a law based upon the religious beliefs of the US citizens at the time the laws were enacted. Hence, this is a religious issue historically that has strong economic implications today.
I agree with you, Alan, that we don’t have to go back to Mayberry to be nostalgic and worship the Lord. I’m trying to make sense of this issue too. My “Mayberry” scenario was only a recollection of what Sundays were like in my young childhood.
Alan – my people are from Yazoo City. My father and many generations before him lived on Graball Road in Yazoo City and were sharecroppers. My dad now owns some of the land he farmed as a sharecropper. My mother is from Tulsa, Oklahoma and moved to Yazoo City in the 1960′s after she married my dad. Therefore, my perspective on life is from a Southern background with a very outspoken Midwestern influence. My name on this site is “ko” because some call me that at work. I guess Kathleen Olivieri is just too complicated, so I was tagged “ko”.
Kathleen, it’s a pleasure to “meet” you over a forum, if that’s the appropriate term, but yes, I’m very familiar with Yazoo City. I know lots of good people who come from the area, and I bet that you’re one of the good bunch!
Also, if Coblentz hasn’t posted it yet, there’s a fantastic op ed on Sunday Alcohol in the SDN by Kelly Daniels. It at least gives voice to the younger generations’ opinions of Sunday alcohol.