What has happened to “family-friendly” Walmart stores? As I entered Gravette’s Walmart on Friday (Dec. 28), I noticed on the window a posted application for a liquor license.
In Gravette? Beer and wine tempting our kids on a daily basis? It was hard for me to believe. I love this town.
My husband and I come from Michigan where liquor is sold at every little convenience store. The highway death toll is skyhigh, not due to curvesin the road and hills not duly negotiated, but because of those who “overimbibed.” It was bad enough in 2008 a drunk driver leaving Gravette ran head-on into me on a curve he didn’t “notice,” breaking my neck and ankle. I was “retired” from work from that moment on but, by God’s grace, I survived.
A dear young friend of ours was drinking at a party and drove his 4-wheeler over a cliff, killing himself and his friend in 2007. I know you canname friends of your own who are not with us now because of overdrinking. Well, that statistic will increase greatly to all of our dismay if beer and wine are available every day to our young people and older ones alike.
Am I a Carrie Nation? If so, I became her when my dad used to take me and my sisters to Detroit’s missions where former businessmen, bankers and preacher’s sons came for something to eat and for refuge from the cold winter nights in Michigan.My husband watched his alcoholic uncle abuse his children and then die at a young age. As a pastor and wife for 50 years, we ministered to families where alcohol abuse shattered them ... men abusing their wives and children. My own alcoholic cousin lived with us for eight months, trying to rehabilitate. His dad taught him to “drink sensibly” when he was a young boy. You all know as well as I that this will be a problem in our city.
Bring the increasedrevenue to our town, you say? That increased revenue will dissolve quickly as more police and firemen are needed, more hospital personnel. If you “drink sensibly,” you can go somewhere else to buy your wine without putting the temptation before our children every day.
The liquor application has to be approved by our city council. If you have strong feelings about this, you need to contact a councilman or Mayor Byron Warren to make them aware. Feelings andbeliefs need to produce action!
Linda Schmitz Gravette
Editor’s Note: Since the sale of alcoholic beverages was approved by a vote of the people, the local city council will have little or no input regarding the approval of liquor licenses. The decision will be made by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Administration, 1515 W. 7th St., Suite 503, Little Rock, AR 72201, phone 501-682-1105, and all comments should be directed to the state agency.
Opinion, Pages 6 on 01/16/2013