Council Nixes Extended
New Years Eve Alcohol Sales

December 21, 2009
The Arab City Council gave a thumbs down to a request to temporarily extend New Years Eve alcohol sales by one hour during the regular meeting Monday night. Four of the council members also expressed opposition to amending the current ordinance to extend sales on a permanent basis.

The temporary extension had been requested by the owner of the Trails End Lounge and was recommended by the Alcohol License Review Committee. Councilman Johnny Hart said that he was concerned with making special exceptions to the ordinance. "I have a problem with granting a variance that could open us up to repeated requests for variances. If the ordinance needs to be changed then I think we should decide whether it needs to be a permanent change and if so amend it," Hart told the council.

Under the ordinance, alcohol sales are prohibited between the hours of 12 a.m. to 7 a.m. Tuesday through Saturday and from 12:01 a.m. on Sunday to 7:00 a.m. of the following Monday. Councilman Ronny Shumate said under the ordinance all alcohol must either be consumed or discarded by Midnight. A motion by councilman Shumate to deny the request was approved unanimously.

A suggestion to research the hours of sale by surrounding cities was dropped after at least four councilman expressed opposition to a permanent extension of the sale hours. Councilman Chris McNeese questioned the need to "revise the hours that had already been passed by the previous council". Councilmen Ronny Shumate, Brian Bishop, and Jimmy Reeves agreed with McNeese