Five counties and two cities are collecting signatures in hopes that voters can decide in November whether to allow alcohol sales in their communities.
The dry counties of Independence, Little River, Randolph, Johnson and Crawford and the dry city of Farmington in wet Washington County have formed campaign committees pushing the issue of going wet, arguing that it would boost their local economies.
Sherwood in wet Pulaski County is doing the same. Half the city is dry, but the township that voted it that way decades ago has since become defunct. There was no legal recourse to hold an election until a state law passed in 2013 mapped the way.
The latest efforts come after several successful dry-to-wet efforts since 2010, including Boone, Sharp, Clark, Benton, Madison, Columbia and Saline counties and the Park Hill neighborhood in North Little Rock. The campaigns must gather signatures from 38 percent of the registered voters in their respective jurisdictions by July to put the question on the ballot. Depending on the wording of the proposal, going wet can allow alcohol to be sold at local restaurants, hotels, convenience stores, grocery stores and liquor stores.
Bob Carius, chairman of Keep Our Dollars in Independence County, said the group is making progress in jumping that “huge hurdle” of 38 percent, a barrier he blames on protectionist lobbying by county-line liquor store owners. All other ballot items need signatures from only 15 percent of voters.
The Independence County campaign needs 8,000 signatures. Its goal is to reach 12,000 in case the secretary of state’s office declares some invalid. The group has collected a little more than 6,000 so far, Carius said.
The committee has been challenged by population spread out over a large area and opposition typical in a Bible belt state, he said.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. of Bentonville has contributed $82,000 to Keep Our Dollars in Independence County, according to Arkansas Ethics Commission filings. Kroger Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio, and White River Petroleum Co. of Batesville contributed $3,000 and $5,000 respectively.
So far, Keep Our Dollars in Independence County has paid $40,000 to Blueprint Action LLC of Denver to gather signatures, and $12,500 to Hargraves Consulting of Little Rock to produce a logo and other consulting work.
Little River County
Wal-Mart also backs the Vote for Growth in Little River Campaign, kicking in $37,000. E-Z Mart Inc. of Texarkana, Texas, has contributed $5,000 to that group. The campaign also hired Blueprint Action to gather signatures and has paid it $35,000.
Committee Chairman Kirk Babb said the group’s efforts have been going well. They’re a few hundred signatures away from the 2,825 requirement, he said.
While there hasn’t been organized opposition, Babb said he’s spoken to a few pastors who oppose alcohol “in any form or fashion.”
“We’ve been able to mute what I would consider to be the sources for vocal opposition in this effort by just communicating with them, and speaking with them about it and where we’re coming from on it,” Babb said. “It’s not about turning the county into a party place. It’s about enabling Little River County to grow economically.”
Randolph County
Linda Bowlin, chairwoman of Keep Revenue in Randolph County, said her group needs 3,800 signatures.
Wal-Mart has contributed $52,000 to that campaign, which so far has paid Blueprint Action $20,000 for canvassing and Hargraves $3,500 for consulting and web design.
Bowlin said county-line liquor stores are opposing the campaign’s efforts by putting out “bogus” information and trying to “fool our residents into thinking that they’re local.”
She called it “ironic” that those same stores campaigned against a statewide ballot question in 2014 that aimed to make the entire state wet by arguing that the question should be decided in local elections, like the one Keep Revenue in Randolph County is seeking, Bowlin said. (The proposal to make all counties wet was defeated by 57.4 percent of voters.)
Farmington
Larry Bowden, a spokesman for Growth for Farmington, said his group has about 75 percent of the signatures it aims to gather. They need 1,600 to 1,800, he said.
The committee is composed of local business owners like Bowden, who owns Briar Rose Bakery & Deli and Damon’s BBQ.
Wal-Mart has contributed $22,000 to the campaign. Blueprint Action has been paid $10,000 for canvassing.
Sherwood
In Sherwood, go-wet proponents are considering how to revive efforts to allow alcohol sales in an area that was part of a defunct township.
A 2013 law allows residents of such defunct townships to circulate a petition requesting a vote on whether restaurants, convenience stores, grocery stores and liquor stores can sell alcohol without having to go the private-club route.
In 2013, petitioners needed signatures from 38 percent of registered voters in the defunct township. They still do, unless they want only on-premise alcohol sales at restaurant and hotels. A new law passed in 2015 lowered the threshold to 15 percent, with that condition attached.
One of the defunct townships the laws apply to is Gray Township, which makes up 90 percent of Jacksonville and the part of Sherwood that is north of Maryland Avenue, including the annexed Gravel Ridge community. The area has been dry for more than 60 years.
Barry Sellers, Sherwood’s economic developer, said meetings were being held to determine whether its campaign would try to meet the 38 percent threshold and attempt to go completely wet or 15 percent and settle for on-premises consumption.
Sherwood began its quest to get wet years ago, but paused those efforts to support the statewide ballot question in 2014. Jacksonville pursued a similar course, but its latest campaign failed to gather enough signatures.
Crawford County
Kevin Holmes of Keep the Dollars in Crawford County said the campaign is more than halfway toward gathering the 12,000 signatures it needs and is optimistic about reaching that goal.
He also said a University of Arkansas at Little Rock study released last week showed that, if the county had been wet in 2015, there would have been $15.5 million in alcohol sales with $250,000 in county sales tax revenue and $275,000 in city sales tax revenue from those. He also said going wet would bring 76 jobs to Crawford County.
Wal-Mart has contributed $101,000 to Keep the Dollars in Crawford County. The campaign has paid $45,000 to Blueprint Action for signature gathering and $7,800 to Hargraves Consulting for consulting and marketing.
Calls to the go-wet committee in Johnson were not immediately returned.
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