Residents Fight Alcohol Changes

Folks, the reason you should consider this is that it will focus the issue into a common zone. The way we have it now, just about every restaurant is also a bar. If we had some dedicated bars instead, the drunks could hang out there, instead of in all the restaurants. Think of a bar as fly paper for drunks. Also, all this talk about the damage alcohol does is misplaced. Until someone who can't handle it drinks the stuff, it doesn't "cause" anything.
Grobbbbbbbbbbb

Grob Hahn wrote:

Folks, the reason you should consider this is that it will focus the issue into a common zone. The way we have it now, just about every restaurant is also a bar. If we had some dedicated bars instead, the drunks could hang out there, instead of in all the restaurants. Think of a bar as fly paper for drunks. Also, all this talk about the damage alcohol does is misplaced. Until someone who can't handle it drinks the stuff, it doesn't "cause" anything.
Grobbbbbbbbbbb

I've been thinking over this whole Sunday thing, too. I think I have an alternate proposal: given the fact there is no logical reason to single out alcohol as something that can't be sold on Sunday and if we as a society still would rather not have it available on the Lord's day, perhaps we shouldn't single it out but, rather, just close everything nonessential on Sunday - no restaurants, grocery stores, malls et cetera.

We have a dedicated place for drunks.Its called AA. I dont want my town to look like Fulton Industrial in a few years. You can put any spin on it you want, but my business is here and I DO NOT want the damage that comes with this crowd, on my property. Let the surrounding counties do this and leave our streets clean. We already have a bigger jail to house more criminals, lets not fill it up with more drunk drivers. If someone wants a bar, go to Fulton Ind., you dont need a passport. nobody is stopping you. This city isnt equipped for taxi service for those impaired to drive home either. It is, at the end of the day, about revenue to the city and it will cost more in the long run, than it will generate. maybe not in dollars, but in destruction to personal lives and businesses. Keep Douglasville as clean as we can, We have already compromised enough.

Navy mom wrote:

We have a dedicated place for drunks.Its called AA. I dont want my town to look like Fulton Industrial in a few years. You can put any spin on it you want, but my business is here and I DO NOT want the damage that comes with this crowd, on my property. Let the surrounding counties do this and leave our streets clean. We already have a bigger jail to house more criminals, lets not fill it up with more drunk drivers. If someone wants a bar, go to Fulton Ind., you dont need a passport. nobody is stopping you. This city isnt equipped for taxi service for those impaired to drive home either. It is, at the end of the day, about revenue to the city and it will cost more in the long run, than it will generate. maybe not in dollars, but in destruction to personal lives and businesses. Keep Douglasville as clean as we can, We have already compromised enough.

You are missing the point entirely. If I'm a drunk, I'm not going to go all the way to Fulton Industrial. I'm going to go to Applebees and sit right across from your family. Or I'm at Tops and will soon be pulling out in front of you as you leave Home Depot.

Drunks are already here in Douglas County. Having a few bars or allowing grocery stores to sell on Sunday really doesn't change anything except give us the ability to manage it better.

like I said before, you can put any spin on it you like. If we already know where the alcohol is being sold, and what time it is sold, how would we be able to better manage it , if it were distributed MORE, for longer hours, in more places? Our police officers already have enough to handle and like i said, our streets are not equippped to handle taxi service in the city for those too impaired to drive home. It is all about money in the pocket of those making the profit and not the good of the community as a whole. lets just be HONEST. Those selling want to make a bigger profit and they are not concerned with the impact on the community. let's make money now, and worry about the negatives later. well thats got to stop. I am just glad it is not up to a few people and the citizens have a voice, at least on election day. Thank you for your input, I appreciate the debate(not being sarcastic) keeps me on my toes!

Navy mom wrote:

We have a dedicated place for drunks.Its called AA. I dont want my town to look like Fulton Industrial in a few years. You can put any spin on it you want, but my business is here and I DO NOT want the damage that comes with this crowd, on my property. Let the surrounding counties do this and leave our streets clean. We already have a bigger jail to house more criminals, lets not fill it up with more drunk drivers. If someone wants a bar, go to Fulton Ind., you dont need a passport. nobody is stopping you. This city isnt equipped for taxi service for those impaired to drive home either. It is, at the end of the day, about revenue to the city and it will cost more in the long run, than it will generate. maybe not in dollars, but in destruction to personal lives and businesses. Keep Douglasville as clean as we can, We have already compromised enough.

You're overlooking the difference between Drunks and Alcoholics. Drunks don't go to meetings! And drunks are already all over the place in our county, allowing non-food bars won't change that. It might allow many of us to enjoy dinner with our families without dealing with a loud, nasty drunk making a scene. That would be nice.

If you're worried about Douglasville turning into Potterville look around. We're already there.
Grobbbbbbbbb

Just can't see that adding a couple of more hours on serving time is going to make much difference. The chances of someone drinking in Douglas County and calling a taxi are much better than someone going to Fulton county to drink and calling a taxi to bring them all the way back to Douglaville. Just speculating. The city council can control which businesses come into Douglasville, so I am thinking cloning Fulton Industrial won't happen. Hope not. And, I agree. Drunks don't go by the clock. It would probably freak us out if we truly knew what we passed on the roads each day.
Where's Potterville????

Navy mom wrote:

like I said before, you can put any spin on it you like. If we already know where the alcohol is being sold, and what time it is sold, how would we be able to better manage it , if it were distributed MORE, for longer hours, in more places? Our police officers already have enough to handle and like i said, our streets are not equippped to handle taxi service in the city for those too impaired to drive home. It is all about money in the pocket of those making the profit and not the good of the community as a whole. lets just be HONEST. Those selling want to make a bigger profit and they are not concerned with the impact on the community. let's make money now, and worry about the negatives later. well thats got to stop. I am just glad it is not up to a few people and the citizens have a voice, at least on election day. Thank you for your input, I appreciate the debate(not being sarcastic) keeps me on my toes!

Bars would keep most of the drunks out of the places your family and mine would tend to visit. Bars do not create more drunks - they won't appear by magic. Those folks already live in this county. Honest.

Synergy wrote:

Where's Potterville????

Potterville used be called Bedford Falls. Life was wonderful back then...

I LOVE the way people assume if someone can go out and have a drink on Sunday or go buy a bottle of wine for their dinner on Sunday that soon the WHOLE town will look like Fulton Industrial. I don't know if some of you guys get out much but, as someone who travels the world for a living, I can tell you there are places throughout the world and here in the states where one can have a drink on Sunday and it does not resemble Fulton Industrial. You start legislating your morality and maybe someday I can too. Like no kids in public places Friday-Sunday. That sounds like a better idea.

I was at the public hearing last night (for the 1st part, anyway). THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY!! Like many of the speakers said, the extra revenue that Douglasville will realize from the 2 hours of extra "pouring" time will NEVER come close to paying for the misery that will result. It was ironic seeing the manager (Owner?) of Taco Mac speaking in favor of this. During the 90's, I spent a fair amount of Friday & Saturday nights there. And I NEVER saw any of their employees refuse to serve liquor to ANYONE, no matter how wasted they were! I thought the 1st speaker (Mr. Grant) presented a lot of facts pertinent to the discussion. I hope the commissioners listened.

Some of these people are morons...Every area around Douglasville has laws that already allow these items, and most of them are far better and nicer areas. Why is it that in these jurisdictions police can handle the job but it would overburden Douglasville? This isn't about alcohol its about religion and the guy who spoke I think second to last made the people arguing religion look dumb by talking about the exclusionary rule and the first amendment and stating that religion has no place in the debate.

Everything is about money. The trick is to be intelligent or moral enough not to take it whenever available.
I live near downtown douglasville and was told this morning that Larry Yockey has the votes to jam this down our throats. Let's go to the council meeting Monday at 7:30 to show them a sample of folks who will remember this issue at re-election time.
Since the opening of one restaurant/bar on Broad Street we continuously have been awakened by the musical entertainment from the bar's patio on the plaza in the early morning hours on warm nights. Moreover, prior to the conference center building project, we were regularly awakened by loud voices, brawls and squealing tires leaving that parking lot at the very time the bars closed. In addition, in looking at the police reports online, we often saw assaults in that parking lot at night, and know of several DUI arrests occurring on city streets immediately after the bars closed. Allowing additional hours to drink, and paving the way for more bars that serve less food than is now required by the law, will only increase the number and severity of these issues. Increasing the number of restaurants is fine, but let the folks who want to party until 3 am go to another county. We have enough loss of life due to drunk drivers in this county already.

zzz wrote:

Allowing additional hours to drink, and paving the way for more bars that serve less food than is now required by the law, will only increase the number and severity of these issues. Increasing the number of restaurants is fine, but let the folks who want to party until 3 am go to another county. We have enough loss of life due to drunk drivers in this county already.

The food/alcohol ratio is just down right stupid. Unless you mandate that ratio for each individual patron there is NOTHING that prevents me from treating Carrabas as a watering hole only. It's not even worth arguing about.

I would rather have those folks close to home that out on the highways at 3. As Grob pointed out, if you're in ATL you are less likely to get a cab if you're hammered.

If you're really concerned about fatalities then, definitely, let's open some bars with longer hours here in D'ville.

(and, as a side note, I like how this board leans way right until we're talking about something dear to our hearts. Only then do we complain that "it's all about money." LOL OF COURSE, it's about money. You live in a capitalist society!! Don't like it? Vote Democrat.:D)

James Stewart wrote:

<quoted text>
Potterville used be called Bedford Falls. Life was wonderful back then...

Ahhh. Okay. I thought I was familiar, but just couldn't place it. Thanks.

zzz wrote:

Everything is about money. The trick is to be intelligent or moral enough not to take it whenever available.
I live near downtown douglasville and was told this morning that Larry Yockey has the votes to jam this down our throats. Let's go to the council meeting Monday at 7:30 to show them a sample of folks who will remember this issue at re-election time.
Since the opening of one restaurant/bar on Broad Street we continuously have been awakened by the musical entertainment from the bar's patio on the plaza in the early morning hours on warm nights. Moreover, prior to the conference center building project, we were regularly awakened by loud voices, brawls and squealing tires leaving that parking lot at the very time the bars closed. In addition, in looking at the police reports online, we often saw assaults in that parking lot at night, and know of several DUI arrests occurring on city streets immediately after the bars closed. Allowing additional hours to drink, and paving the way for more bars that serve less food than is now required by the law, will only increase the number and severity of these issues. Increasing the number of restaurants is fine, but let the folks who want to party until 3 am go to another county. We have enough loss of life due to drunk drivers in this county already.

If you live near downtown Douglasville, you aren't in Larry Yockey's district. You can't vote against him at re-election time.
You could help campaign against him or donate money to an opponent.

Orlando32 wrote:

I was at the public hearing last night (for the 1st part, anyway). THIS IS ALL ABOUT MONEY!! Like many of the speakers said, the extra revenue that Douglasville will realize from the 2 hours of extra "pouring" time will NEVER come close to paying for the misery that will result. It was ironic seeing the manager (Owner?) of Taco Mac speaking in favor of this. During the 90's, I spent a fair amount of Friday & Saturday nights there. And I NEVER saw any of their employees refuse to serve liquor to ANYONE, no matter how wasted they were! I thought the 1st speaker (Mr. Grant) presented a lot of facts pertinent to the discussion. I hope the commissioners listened.

I was there, too. Do you HONESTLY think that extending serving hours by a couple of hours is going to make a difference? One of the people speaking against extending the hours was really making a pitch FOR extending the hours when he was talking about drunks comng IN to Douglas County from surrounding counties who DO have longer pouring hours. Those are probably OUR citizens going to other counties to get their drink on and then driving back. At least if they are able to stay in their own county, perhaps they'll call someone to come and get them or take a cab. There might even be a friend in the same establishment that is sober and will give him/her a ride home.
The truth of the matter is: It's about revenue vs religion. Revenue is important to ALL of us in regard to our county. Religion is important to SOME of us(including me), but I don't think it should take away our freedom to choose. The drunks are going to get drunk regardless. The responsible drinkers are going to be responsible. It's that simple. BTW, I HAVE been bothered by out of control kids a WHOLE LOT MORE in restaurants than by drunks. That's a fact.

Folks, I absolutely do not agree with the notion that because someone goes to a bar then they are there to get drunk. I love the opportunity to go to a bar or restaurant and be able to drink an alcoholic beverage, visit with friends, maybe catch some live music if available, etc. It is primarily atmosphere and a place to get away to.

It should be my right to be able to do this on ANY day of the week, just as it is the same for anyone to elect NOT to drink on any specific day. It is absolutely moronic to assume that because people go to church on Sunday, then there shouldn't be any alcohol sales in specific establishments.

For that kind of narrow-minded logic, why is Sunday the day chosen? Regardless of the fact that it is classified as the 'Sabbath Day', people go to church every day of the week (if you consider all religions, no just Christian or Baptist). So I guess this stupid imposition should be considered for all days of the week.

People trip over their own morals and try imposing them on others. They will throw weak descriptions of why this is a bad idea (like the drunks comments that keep coming up in this thread) and say this is the reason for the imposition on others. In fact, the majority of people who go out and have a drink on ANY day can do this responsibly or without causing problems.

But you can't reason with stupid.

$$$$$$$$$$$ thats what package stores bring palmetto ga.....

To The Point wrote:

Folks, I absolutely do not agree with the notion that because someone goes to a bar then they are there to get drunk. I love the opportunity to go to a bar or restaurant and be able to drink an alcoholic beverage, visit with friends, maybe catch some live music if available, etc. It is primarily atmosphere and a place to get away to.
It should be my right to be able to do this on ANY day of the week, just as it is the same for anyone to elect NOT to drink on any specific day. It is absolutely moronic to assume that because people go to church on Sunday, then there shouldn't be any alcohol sales in specific establishments.
For that kind of narrow-minded logic, why is Sunday the day chosen? Regardless of the fact that it is classified as the 'Sabbath Day', people go to church every day of the week (if you consider all religions, no just Christian or Baptist). So I guess this stupid imposition should be considered for all days of the week.
People trip over their own morals and try imposing them on others. They will throw weak descriptions of why this is a bad idea (like the drunks comments that keep coming up in this thread) and say this is the reason for the imposition on others. In fact, the majority of people who go out and have a drink on ANY day can do this responsibly or without causing problems.
But you can't reason with stupid.

+1 Very well said!