By Andrew Edwards
Elmore/Autauga News Staff Writer
In an unsurprising decision, Autauga County Commissioners once again voted down the Alcohol Ordinance that would see Sunday sales in the unincorporated parts of Autauga County. This was the fourth meeting in a row that the decision failed 3-2, with District 5 Commissioner Larry Stoudemire and District 1 Commissioner Rusty Jacksland voting for the ordinance.
But is there hope that the ordinance could pass in the future?
Well, sort of.
At least, that’s the way that it appeared when District 2 Commissioner John Thrailkill spoke at Tuesday’s meeting.
“I’ve done a lot of thinking on the ordinance, and I think we’ll join the counties around us and have Sunday sales once we have everything around the interstate developed. I certainly think it’s something that’s going to happen in the future,” Thrailkill said.
The commissioner explained that, before any sort of ordinance is passed, that the county needs to make sure that all sales on Sunday will be done legally.
“We’ve heard lots of reports of places that were selling illegally, so that raises concerns. I’ve talked to our council and Sheriff’s Department, and I turned in some addresses that the Sheriff’s department is now working on. I just want to make sure when we go down this road that everybody is doing this legally,” Thrailkill said.
Thraillkill went on to explain that it would benefit the county to have rules and regulations involved before passing the ordinance.
“When the time comes, when we do pass it, we need to make sure that we have everything in place for anything that comes up in the future. I’m not a complete ‘no’ forever,” Thrailkill said.
Stoudemire, who has sponsored the ordinance for the past two months, believes that any sort of illegal sales are unrelated to his proposal.
“Selling it out of your house is absolutely illegal – it’s wrong. But that doesn’t have anything to do with what we’re trying to do with the Sunday sales,” Stoudemire explained.
Thrailkill clarified.
“Maybe the illegal sales don’t have anything to do with what you’re proposing, I’m just suggesting that we need to look at the big picture and make sure the decisions that we make will work long-term. For me, we need to make sure that we have as many rules in place to protect and represent the people of this county,” Thrailkill said.
He also explained that the county could establish their own rules, separate from the Alabama ABC Board, for places that are selling on Sundays in the future.
Regardless, Stoudemire believes that development along the interstate and the creation of new rules and regulations would ultimately take too long.
“If we wait for them to do something out there by the interstate, that could take five or six years. What about the constituents that we have now?” Stoudemire said.
Thrailkill disagreed.
“In the history of our county, there have never been Sunday sales. I don’t feel like we’re putting anybody out immediately. What we’re doing is what has always been done, but I’m not saying that that’s what always has to happen,” Thrailkill explained.
Stoudemire says he will be placing the ordinance on the agenda again for their meeting on Tuesday, July 17th.
