Tuscaloosa residents vote to allow Sunday liquor sales in city

Tuscaloosa residents vote to allow Sunday liquor sales in city

Tuscaloosans may be buying alcohol seven days a week as early as March 6 after residents voted overwhelmingly to allow Sunday liquor sales in the city.

Of the 11,377 ballots cast Feb. 22, 78 percent supported beer, wine and liquor sales from noon to 9:30 p.m. on Sundays, according to Tuscaloosa News.

Although some Alabama Baptists in the area fought against the referendum, they are still planning to work with the community and meet any needs and problems that may arise with the expanded sales.

“I don’t think our people got out and voted,” said Ed Steelman, spokesperson for the Tuscaloosa Baptist Association Christian Life Committee.

“Our church people didn’t really seem to be motivated that much, and I wish I knew why. … They may have gotten a little tired. It (Sunday alcohol sales) has been brought up every year since 1996, and this is the second vote we had on it. I think maybe [church people] felt [alcohol sales supporters] were going to keep pushing for it until they got it.”

Steelman said those fighting against alcohol expansion could not compete financially with supporters of the vote.

“The reason we didn’t want another vote is that we don’t have the money to combat things like that,” he said. “They (supporters) did three mailings to registered voters. They had a phone bank set up. They were working on Facebook and Twitter. They had three 15-passsenger limousines taking college students to the polls. They drove around the campus from 7 in the morning until 7 at night with big signs on the limos that said ‘free rides to the polls.’ … We tried to raise some money but were not successful. They (local newspapers) wouldn’t give us (a nonprofit) a break on the price of an ad in the newspaper.”

Nevertheless, Steelman said the association will continue its ministry to the community.

“We still love our city, and we want to be active in our communities working with the problems caused by the Sunday sales because there will be problems,” he noted. “When the problems arise, we want to be part of the solution.”

Now that Sunday sales are legal in Tuscaloosa, Steelman said the City of Northport is planning to introduce legislation calling for a similar referendum on Sunday alcohol sales.

“We knew that if it passed in Tuscaloosa we would be inundated with it,” he said.

“So, here we go.”