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Alcohol sales may be on Dillsboro’s November ballot
By Derek Hodges
For the first time since early 1998, Dillsboro residents may get the opportunity to decide whether beer and wine will be sold at restaurants in town.
The town board voted unanimously at an emergency meeting Monday (April 11) to send a letter to Rep. Phil Haire requesting that the measure be put on the ballot. The letter is required by state law because Dillsboro has fewer than 500 citizens, said town clerk Herb Nolan. Pending action by Haire, Dillsboro residents will get to vote on the issue Nov. 8.
The meeting was called hastily so Haire will have time to add the ballot issue to another bill in the state legislature.
Much of the opposition to the last attempt to get the sales approved was brought on by the inclusion of package stores in the last vote, said Mayor Jean Hartbarger.
The issue, which has caused controversy when it was a considered in previous years, has already proven divisive, as evidenced by a heated exchange at the board’s April 4 session.
At that meeting, Dillsboro merchants Ray Nations and Melissa Zoda asked town officials to consider taking necessary steps to add the issue to the ballot.
Board member Jim Cochran asked that the two take an informal poll of Dillsboro’s 192 registered voters to find out if there was support for alcohol sales.
Zoda and Nations presented board members with a petition Monday bearing the names of more than 40 voters registered in Dillsboro township.
“We had a really positive response. Only two people said they didn’t want to sign the petition,” said Nations, who owns Ray’s Florist and is planning to open a restaurant in Dillsboro.
“We thought it was about time the people of Dillsboro had a chance to vote on this,” said Zoda, who co-owns Dillsboro Steak & Seafood with her husband, Jim.
“My concern is this is an issue that has come up before and been turned down,” Cochran said April 4.
“The tax revenues for the town from these sales will be so insignificant in my opinion that it’s not even worth the trouble,” he said.
Board members Emma Wertenberger and Bud Smith felt the request was all the board needed to send the letter.
“I felt that it wasn’t necessary for a petition to be circulated,” Wertenberger said.
Virtually all Dillsboro’s restaurants that are open for evening meals are already licensed to offer brown-bagging privileges, she said.
“Sylva already has beer and wine and they haven’t seemed to have any problems with it,” Wertenberger said. “That made me confident about allowing it to come to a vote. I really think it’s up to the people of Dillsboro to decide this issue.”
Smith agreed with Wertenberger, calling the petition “absurd.” He became so upset at the April 4 meeting that he left in protest.
“I don’t usually do things like that, but I just didn’t like the way it was handled. I wanted no part of it, so I got up and left,” Smith said. “The absurdities of how they handled it made me furious.”
“Basically, one member said that he didn’t care about it because it had failed before, so he asked for a petition. The rest of us were steamrolled,” he said.
Smith’s outrage grew out of what he called a “roadblock” in the democratic process.
“The people have a right to vote on this,” he said.
On a motion by Wertenberger seconded by Smith, the board voted with no discussion to send the necessary letter to Haire.
“I expected some opposition, but we didn’t get any,” Smith said.
Smith, Nations and Zoda all said they feel positive the issue will pass.
“I want to believe it’s going to go through,” Smith said.
Without the package stores in the vote, Hartbarger agreed it had a good chance of passing.
“I think it probably has a better chance now than it did before,” she said.
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