A county-wide meeting for those interested in keeping Pontotoc dry will be held next Monday night in the Pontotoc County Courthouse Court room at 7 p.m,

All area citizens who wish to help in organizing the campaign against the beer petition are urged to attend this important meeting.

Pastors should announce this in their congregaions this Sunday.

By REGINA BUTLER

Progress Staff Writer

The decision over whether or not to allow beer sales in Pontotoc County is beginning to heat up. While the number of signatures needed to bring the issue to a vote is growing, the 3,400 signatures necessary has not been reached.

Some stores have filled 10 pages of names and the petitions have been picked up, although neither the supervisors nor the staff in Circuit Clerk Tracy Robinson’s office have seen a petition filled with signatures yet.

However, supporters are still signing the petition at the various stores across the county, while opponents have posted signs encouraging residents not to sign the beer petitions.

Also, a meeting to organize the efforts to stop the sale of beer from becoming legal in Pontotoc is scheduled for Monday, Aug. 30, at 7 p.m. in the Court Room at the Pontotoc County Courthouse as opponents of the petitions step up their campaign to ensure that Pontotoc County stays dry.

Numerous efforts to contact Larry Mathis, who started the petitions to allow beer sales in the county, failed.

However, several store owners displaying the petition said support for the movement is growing slowly, but steadily. At the Tobacco Shop in Pontotoc, the third sheet of the petition is just now being filled (just over 30 signatures).

“I’ve only had one person against the petition,” said store owner and operator Shelia Broadway. “Those that are for it want to boost the business.”

However, Broadway remains skeptical. “I’m not so sure it will do that. I haven’t made up my mind yet [if she will sell beer if it is approved.]”

Down at Randolph Grocery, where more than 196 have signed the petition, store clerk Margaret Bolton said the main argument for the sale of beer is for “more tax money and to be able to buy beer [here].”

At the Sinclair store on Highway 15 in the city, only 53 have signed the petition while Clay’s Quick Stop in Ecru has 100 signatures and Pam’s Place at Algoma has 110 signatures.

Circuit Clerk Tracy Robinson filled in the supervisors at their last meeting as to how the process would work.

“The petitions are officially given to you, then you give them to me to certify that they are all Pontotoc County voters and then I re-submit them to you and if there are enough signatures, you have to call a special election within 60 to 90 days.”

Robinson said the beer vote would be a special election and could not be placed on the November ballot simply because there is not enough time to qualify the petitions.

The beer law provides that a vote to allow beer sales within a county will be held upon receipt by the Board of Supervisors of a petition signed by 20 percent of the qualified electors of the county.

An election can be set to discontinue the sale of beer within the county upon receipt by the Board of Supervisors of a petition signed by 20 percent of the qualified electors of the county.

Neither election may be held in any one county more often that once every five years.

The last time folks in Pontotoc County voted on the beer law was in the fall of 1974.

ORIGNINAL STORY: Petition for beer sales in county circulating

A petition to allow for the sale of beer in Pontotoc County is out at several businesses.

Headed up by Randolph resident Larry Mathis, there are some 10 petitions out in stores from Hurricane to Judah.

Mathis said he started the the petition because he personally drinks beer "and why should I drive to Tupelo and fix their roads when I could run to Randolph and get some beer?"

He said that while people "look bad on this, we get tax dollars out of it and that will help Pontotoc County."

Mathis said he will have to collect some 3,400 signatures before it can be brought to a vote, "My goal is to get 4,000."

The law provides for local elections to determine whether or not to allow beer to be sold in the local communities.

The last time Pontotoc County voted on the beer law was 1974.

SECOND STORY:

Beer petitions familiar foe to veteran pastor

By REGINA BUTLER

Progress Staff Writer

He has faced the issue twice before in Pontotoc and the veteran pastor is ready to face it again.

News of the circulation of a petition to allow for beer sales in Pontotoc has caught the full attention of Victory Baptist Church pastor Doug Jones.

“This issue was voted on when I was pastor at Hurricane Baptist Church and since I became pastor at Victory.”

The last time the issue came to a vote was in the fall of 1974.

Staunchly standing against the sale of alcoholic beverages in Pontotoc, even though other towns in recent months have approved for the sales, Jones said there is nothing good that can come from the sale of the brew. “The fact is, there are those that don’t want it in the county. And the tax money they claim we will get isn’t all that much. That dollar is divided among all the counties.”

Reflecting back, Jones gave a brief history of other related subjects that were supposed to cure Mississippi’s tax shortages.

“When they first brought liquor in, they said it was going to solve our tax woes, but it hasn’t. And then they approved for gambling in the state and it was supposed to cure our education funding problems, but it didn’t work. It is a bunch of lies they are trying to propagate on Pontotoc County.”

Jones said he has noticed the petition in places across the county. “I just don’t believe a committed Christian, and I say committed, could sign the petition.”

The claim that not as much alcohol will be consumed if it is right in our town is a falacy, Jones said. “For instance, when it was first approved in New Albany, they brought in a trailer truck load of beer to have enough. That proves they are buyng more.

“And I’ve been told that the ambulance has had more calls in New Albany since they voted beer in.”

The pastor said he has talked to folks across Pontotoc about the issue.

“I’ve had parents tell me they don’t want kids to walk into places where there is alcohol in their face.

“It is a way to acquaint the kid with an alcoholic beverage. Most concientious parents are against that.”

Jones said he believes the availablity of the brew creates more “drunk drivers, more domestic problems, more kids doing without food clothes and shoes.”

More importantly, though, the veteran pastor said, “It destroys the family and breaks down the morals of a family.”

“It breaks down the morals of a community. There is not one good thing that a person can say about alcohol.

“It all has its negatives. It makes you drunk and you can’t think right, it makes you drunk and you don’t act right. There are more negatives than there are positives.”

Jones reiterated the tax issue is a dead issue, “It is not a cure-all for our schools. I’d hate to know that our school was supported by something that degrades the family and degrades the community like alcohol does.

“The last time we voted on it in Pontotoc County, we beat it 2 to 1.”

Read more in this week's Pontotoc Progress.