Published: August 20, 2008 02:57 pm            

'I don't care' — 08/21/08

Vast majority are indifferent about outcme of referendum

The winner of Tuesday’s alcohol referendum in the Garner precinct is clear: It is “I don’t care” by a landslide.

To be sure, 58 voters said they opposed the legal sale of alcohol beverages by the drink at the Sandy Creek Golf Course on Meade Springer Road, while 36 voters said they approved of Sandy Creek selling beer to golfers.

But more than 90 percent of the registered voters in the Garner precinct were so apathetic about the issue of beer sales at the golf course that they did not bother to go to the polls.

In one respect, such apathy is understandable. If a Garner resident never tees off at Sandy Creek, why should that person care whether the golf course sells beer? After all, that non-golfer is not likely to ever purchase beer at the golf course.

And since many golfers now bring their own beer to consume as they play the course, the issue was never whether or not beer would be allowed at Sandy Creek. The only issue was whether Sandy Creek owners Rich and Tammy Mahar would sell the beer or the golfers would continue to bring their own beer. And the response from the vast majority of residents who live near the golf course was: “Who cares? Certainly not me.”

The Mahars are the big losers in Tuesday’s election. They saw beer sales as away of generating new revenue for the golf course and possibly attracting more golfers.

But in another sense, those who support the responsible consumption of alcohol are losers because of the rejection of legal alcohol-by-the-drink sales at Sandy Creek. If the referendum had been approved, Sandy Creek would have prohibited golfers from bringing their own booze to the golf course, and the consumption of beer likely would have been limited to single drinks sold and consumed in the clubhouse.

Golfers who bring their booze in a coolers and consume it as they play are far more likely to consume too much and leave the course intoxicated, than if they had just had one or two beers at the clubhouse. Tuesday’s vote does nothing to keep intoxicated drivers off the roads.

Mahar says he will try again to convince voters to approve beer sales when they can next vote on the issue in three years. Until then, the status quo will continue at Sandy Creek.

However, we suspect Tuesday’s vote discouraged Boyd County golf courses in other precincts from attempting to convince voters to approve liquor-by-the-drink sales. If the issue had passed, we suspect other golf courses in the county would have sought beer sales if for no other reason than to remain competitive with Sandy Creek.

The defeat of the referendum makes moot the 11th-hour lawsuit the Greenup Baptist Association filed in an attempt to prevent the election. In one regard, that’s too bad. The state law allowing special elections on alcohol sales at golf courses is a bit confusing, and some clarification from the courts would have been helpful. As Boyd Circuit Judge David Hagerman said in denying a request to stop the referendum, the association’s lawsuit did raise some legitimate legal issues — issues that apparently now will not be answered but are sure to come up again.

        

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