Liquor Vote to be on November Ballot

The petition to bring a liquor referendum to a public vote in Winston County was presented to the Winston County Supervisors in their regularly scheduled meeting. Leslie Smyth informed the Board that the petition had sufficient signatures and Circuit Clerk Kim Ming has reviewed the names and certified that the petition had met statutory requirements. Mississippi statute requires that such a petition must have signatures of 20% of the registered voters in the county or 1500 signature whichever is less.
County Attorney Hathorn informed the Board that they must call for a referendum for or against the measure within 60 days of the filing of the petition. The Board agreed to include the referendum on the November 8th general election ballot to save any costs that would be associated with a separate vote.
There was some discussion as to where liquor sales would be legal within the county and the current state restrictions. State law sets requirements concerning sales of liquor within certain distances from churches and schools. It is certain that if the issue passes, liquor with greater than 5% alcohol content could be sold in the cities of Louisville and Noxapater by state licensed retailers. The cities would have discretion with zoning regulations to further control the location of retailers.
Restaurants would also be able serve higher alcohol content wine and mixed drinks as well as long as the sale of alcohol generated less than 50% of their overall revenue.

William McCully