Overton Commissioners Leave Public Liquor Vote Tabled

Overton County Commissioners would not agree to discuss a November Liquor-By-The-Drink referendum Monday night, leaving the issue undecided.

Commissioners Patrick McCurdy and Jesse Bowman voted to bring the issue back to the agenda for discussion and a vote. The rest of the commissioners voted against it. Chairman Darwin Clark said it would take take a motion and a vote from the commission to bring the item back onto the agenda.

“Last month when we voted on the liquor referendum it got voted to table it, so,” Clark said. “Which means that if we’re going to bring this back to the, to the, back on the table, back to the agenda, we’re going to have to have two-thirds vote. So it’s going to have to take ten votes to get it out of being off the table.”

Clark said the topic will stay tabled. He said it cannot be brought up again this year. Commissioners began discussing the idea of a public vote during the December meeting. The referendum would cover the county outside Livingston, which already has liquor-by-the-drink.

Grace Baptist Church Pastor John Copeland told commissioners before the discussion he thought the economic impact would be minimal.

“To me it looks like it’s a very small trickle of funds that’s going into a bucket that needs a whole lot more in it to be able to sustain the county as it is,” Copeland said.

Copeland also said the liquor referendum represents a moral issue for the county.

“We all know this evening that there is nothing good that ever comes from alcohol being made more accessible to the public,” Copeland said. “It never does what we’re told that it’s going to do. All it does is add to the problems that already exist.”

Old Gray Operations Manager Jason Grider said the referendum could allow for that venue to generate more income for a better infrastructure, more shows, and a stronger economic and tourism impact on the county.

“As you’re thinking about doing this, you know, maybe the citizens could have a say in this,” Grider said. “Do they want this? Do they want more things to come to Overton County because of it? And that’s all I’m asking.”