The editor:
The leaders of Morehead are considering extending restaurant alcohol beverage hours on Sunday and through the week. They want to allow restaurants to serve beer and mixed drinks until midnight on Sunday and 2 a.m. Monday through Saturday. The measure will probably pass. Here’s what doesn’t make sense to me: If I can go to a restaurant and have any beer or mixed drink I want, then why can’t I stop at a gas station and pick up a six-pack to take home with me? It makes a lot more sense and is safer for people to enjoy their adult beverages at home rather than driving into town and possibly endangering themselves or others.
Morehead’s City Council should do the right thing, and allow package beer and liquor sales on Sundays. Tax revenues will increase and fewer people will be on the road intoxicated. Another reason to allow Sunday sales is to put bootleggers out of business. You might be surprised to hear it, but bootlegging is alive and well in eastern Kentucky. And bootleggers don’t check ID or pay their taxes. They thrive because of the restrictive alcohol laws we have in this region. Stopping bootleggers will help keep alcohol out of the hands of minors and increase tax revenues, both good things.
To sum up, if restaurants are allowed to sell beer and mixed drinks on Sundays, then other kinds of establishments should also be able to. The benefits are three-fold: less chance of intoxicated drivers, less bootlegging, and more tax revenues. It’s a no-brainer. Allow Sunday sales.
Sheryl Coloccio
Salt Lick
