By Kristen Padilla
It was only a matter of time before more small towns would follow Grove Hill’s lead and hold a wet/dry referendum.
State legislators made it possible by passing House Bill 175 in May 2009. The legislation reduced the municipal population requirement for holding a wet/dry referendum in most dry counties from 7,000 to 1,000.
By November, Grove Hill, population 1,342, had become the first of these small towns to hold a wet/dry referendum, and the citizens decided to go wet.
On June 1, the citizens of Aliceville, Chatom, Falkville, Good Hope, Haleyville, Moulton, Phil Campbell and Town Creek will face the same question: to legalize the sale of alcohol or stay dry.
“To me, this was a well-orchestrated plan, not unlike the bingo deal, on the part of alcohol distributors and folks who wanted to sell alcohol and wanted to open up new markets,” said Gary Farley, director of missions for Pickens Baptist Association. “They figure that if Aliceville goes wet, then Reform will go wet, and then Gordo will go wet. It’s all about money.”
Farley, who has been helping Baptists in Aliceville inform the nearly 2,500 people there about the dangers of alcohol, said he is hoping the referendum there will have the same outcome as the ones in Winfield and Centreville did recently.
On May 11, the citizens of Winfield and Centreville voted to remain dry by narrow margins — 829–824 in Winfield and 410–405 in Centreville, according to The Tuscaloosa News.
“It’s giving us some impetus,” Farley said. “Hopefully the folks in Aliceville will see there are some towns that have turned this around. I hope we’ll have another victory.”
In Phil Campbell, which barely makes the cut with a population at just more than 1,000, area pastors are worried that if their town goes wet, then it will not be able to support all the repercussions of readily available alcohol.
“There’ll just be far more needs, and the resources won’t be as great,” said Sammy Taylor, pastor of Mountain View Baptist Church, Phil Campbell. “It will be a larger burden on the Church to meet the social needs of the people if it passes.”
But he and his church members are working hard to make sure that does not happen.
Placing “Alcohol Kills; Vote NO” signs across town and wearing buttons with the same message are just two of the many steps Taylor’s church has taken.
“One day when I stand before the Lord and He asks me, ‘What did you do to prevent evil from coming to your town?,’ I don’t want to say, ‘Nothing,’” he said.
Ron Horton, pastor of New Prospect Baptist Church, Haleyville, has also been leading his church in an effort to keep its town of about 4,000 dry.
One thing he has done is to air sermons about the dangers of alcohol on the church’s Sunday morning radio program.
“I don’t know any good thing that comes from alcohol because of the families I’ve dealt with in 20 years of ministry who have had to deal with it,” Horton said.
The members of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Moulton, feel so strongly about the issue that they passed a resolution at the recommendation of the deacons that says the church is opposed to the legalization of alcohol in its town of about 3,000.
“Our folks have been real diligent, and we feel very good that we’ve gotten the word out,” said Senior Pastor Steve Agee. “We’ve tried to get as much information in their hands as we can of the dangers of alcohol and what it does.”
For Agee and his church, though, there is strength in numbers. That’s why they began a committee with several other churches in town. The committee has printed posters, handed out brochures, put up yard signs and placed ads in the local newspaper, all in the name of keeping Moulton dry.
Joe Godfrey, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program, said he has found that towns usually stay dry when churches work together “to inform citizens of the truth about alcoholic beverages.”
“That is not always the case,” he said. “But there is a better record of voting to stay dry when the churches get aggressively involved than [when] they sit on the sidelines and do nothing.
“Several churches have fought valiantly, but their communities have still voted to go wet,” Godfrey added. “At least they can stand before the Lord one day and be honored for having done their best.”
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