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Wet/Dry Issues For Email Newsletters you can trust
As a result of H.B. 175 passed during the 2009 Alabama Legislative Session, the population requirement for a municipal option (wet/dry vote) in a dry county was lowered from 7000 to 1000. As a result, many municipalities in Alabama dry counties are holding referenda to decide whether to allow the town to sell alcoholic beverages. The results so far are listed below.
Click on the following links for statistics and other information if you are fighting a wet/dry referendum.
Alcohol Alert from the Department of Health and Human Services - Underage Drinking
Telephone Script - Alcohol (Example)
Prohibition Was a Success (print these pages front-to-back and cut in half to use as bulletin inserts)
Youth Drinking Rates and Problems - A comparison of Europe and USA
Not Drinking? No excuse needed. (Dear Abby - 10/2009)
Click here for an idea for a church bulletin insert.
Click here for a printable copy of the Alabama Legislative Directory.
In Alabama there are 26 dry counties. However, municipalities that meet certain criteria can vote to go wet even if they are located within a dry county. The following is a list of Alabama counties that are currently dry (counties with municipalities that are wet are identified with an asterisk [*] and if more than one municipality is wet within the county, more than one asterisk will appear):
Below is a map, provided by the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board in their 2004-2005 Annual Report, that gives a visual representation of the above list. Note: Since this map was published, Clarke County has added another wet municipality. With this newest addition, there are now 17 wet municipalities within the 26 dry counties of Alabama.
 The criteria for a municipality within a dry county voting to go wet are stated in the Alabama Code, Title 28. It states: "Any municipality having a population of 7,000 or more may change its classification from dry to wet or wet to dry by a municipal option election...."
The law further states:
"If any municipality having a population of 7,000 or more, of any county, votes to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages in its corporate limits pursuant to this article, then every other municipality having a population of 4,000 or more in the county shall be likewise authorized to petition for and hold an election on whether to legalize the sale of such beverages in the same manner, and under the same conditions, as municipalities of 7,000 or more. (Acts 1984, No. 84-408, p. 955, §4.)" Recently, two municipalities which do not meet either of these criteria have voted to "go wet". The first is Cedar Bluff, AL and the second is Thomasville, AL. A law suit has been filed in the Cedar Bluff case in an attempt to reverse the vote as being unconstitutional because Cedar Bluff does not meet either of the requirements listed above. If the plaintiffs in this case are successful, it could result in a reversal of the decision in both Cedar Bluff and Thomasville. [Back to top] |
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