When Christians in Ozark work together to protect families, things happen.
Recently a group of Ozark citizens persuaded the City Council to reconsider its decision to allow alcohol to be sold at the Lower Alabama Crawdad Festival, held March 24.
"The crawdad festival was advertised as a family event," said Bill Hart, pastor of Pleasant Grove Baptist Church, Ozark, in Dale Baptist Association. "But we just didn’t believe alcohol had anything to do with family."
The effort against the alcohol began with Hart’s wife, Wilma. When she heard of the City Council’s unanimous Feb. 18 decision to allow beer sales at the festival, Wilma Hart contacted Mickey Snell, director of the city’s department of leisure services, which is in charge of the festival. Snell instructed her to send a petition to the mayor’s office.
She rallied support by calling all the churches in Dale Association and then the remaining churches in the county — more than 50 in all. From Pleasant Grove Baptist alone, more than 90 people signed the petition.
Wilma Hart said she was concerned about allowing beer at the crawdad festival because more police officers would be needed to ensure safety and some people would be intoxicated as they drove away from the festival, which is next to a neighborhood.
"I did not know if our efforts would be successful, but I knew that if we didn’t say a word, the decision to allow beer would pass," Wilma Hart said.
Jim Hill, pastor of Ridgecrest Baptist Church, Ozark, and Bill Hart attended the March 6 City Council meeting to speak out against granting a liquor license to an establishment across from a Methodist church in Ozark and ask the council to rescind its decision to sell beer at the crawdad festival.
"Some people wanted to allow alcohol at the festival because they said beer and crawdads go together," Hill said. "But family and beer don’t go together any more than beer and crawdads do."
As a result of their efforts, the Ozark City Council agreed to ban beer from the crawdad festival. Local pastors then encouraged their church members to offer their full support and attend the festival.
"The City Council members sensed the feelings of the people," said Dan Ireland, executive director of Alabama Citizens Action Program. "This action shows that when concerned citizens get involved they can make a difference for the good of the community."
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