Grove Hill OKs alcohol sales

Voters in the county seat of dry Clarke County favored allowing alcohol sales Tuesday by a vote of 346 to 214, according to Grove Hill town clerk Cheryl Hicks.

Hicks said local churches had organized efforts to defeat the referendum in the town with 964 registered voters and a population of 1,438.

Neighboring Jackson and Thomasville chose to allow alcohol sales a few years ago. Clarke County is one of a few in Alabama that maintain a ban on alcohol sales that harks back to the days of Prohibition.

"It's about tax money," Hicks said. "That's what we need. The (U.S. 43) bypass was built around us years ago and that really hurt our economy. Maybe tax revenue from alcohol sales will help us some."

Hicks said City Council members will introduce an ordinance regulating alcohol sales at their next meeting, set for Nov. 16, and a vote approving the ordinance would come Dec. 7. Alcohol sales could begin by the first of the year, Hicks said, with tax revenue available months after that.