CULLMAN —
Good Hope residents will have an opportunity to vote on whether to allow legal alcohol sales.
Approval for the referendum was granted Monday night when the Good Hope City Council voted 4-2 to set the vote for Aug. 28 — the same day as municipal elections — after receiving a petition with 194 valid signatures calling for the wet/dry referendum.
Title 28-2A of the Code of Alabama requires that cities place wet/dry referendums on the next available ballot on their election calendar, so long as they allow at least 30 days between the submission of a petition and the election. If the council had voted against putting the issue on the ballot, a legitimate legal challenge would have been in the future for Good Hope.
Mayor Corey Harbison explained that point, but two council members, Maxie Jones and Danny Buchanan, voted against the referendum. Both council members cited personal moral convictions as the reason for their votes.
Both council members’ moral convictions may be appreciated by many people, but their votes of opposition were unnecessary. They could have stated their convictions and voted for placing the matter on the ballot in accordance with state law, or they could have abstained. But as council members they have an obligation to follow the law and allow the people they represent the opportunity to vote.
Jerry Lawson, a pastor at the nearly 3,000-member Daystar Church in Good Hope, said church leadership does not take a position on such issues. They simply leave such matters individual congregation members to decide.
Lawson’s point is valid for anyone in elected office to absorb. The petition met the demand of the law. Citizens should not be hindered in their right to vote and decide issues of public importance.
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