Madison County Liquor Referendum

My county -- Madison County, Florida -- is considering placing a liquor referendum on the ballot.
Madison County is currently considered a "dry" county. It is one of only five in the state which maintain a dry status. Beer and citrus based wine (or wine coolers) are sold in the county because state law says that they can be sold in any of Florida's 67 counties. Hard liquor and wine cannot be sold.
Proponents of Madison County becoming wet maintain that it will help the economy. I don't really see how that is possible. For Madison County to get $150,000 in sales taxes from liquor being sold, $10 million worth of it will need to be sold through three beverages licenses. Being a rural county, I don't see that happening. That $150,000 would have to be split three ways -- $50K for the new hospital debt retirement, $50K for the new infrastructure debt retirement and $50K for EMS. If a Florida law passes in November, another half-penny will have to go towards funding community colleges throughout the state. That will reduce any income to the hospital, infrastructure and EMS to $37,500 -- if Madison County somehow miraculously gets that much money from the sale of liquor and wine.
If people want Madison County to become wet so that they don't have to drive 15 minutes to get their liquor, they should just say that and not try to fool people with an economic picture that is distorted just so they can pick up votes from people who may think that the picture is correct and think that Madison County will benefit from it.
Another picture that they try to paint is one of Madison County becoming a spot for restaurants that serve liquor and alcohol. They argue that his will help the county. Restaurants do not bring newer money into the county. The money just shifts from one place to another. They then argue that the restaurants will go at the interstate exits. Take a trip across the country, or just down the north Florida I-10 corridor. What kinds of restaurants do you see along the interstate? Fast food restaurants and when you look at the older ones in the area they are hurting because the money has shifted from them to a newer place.
I realize the reason that most people who want the county to become wet are probably those who don't want to have to drive to Valdosta, Ga. or Perry, Fla. to get a fifth of Lord Calvert or some other branded label. They don't care one bit about the economic impact.
I realize that those of us who are opposed to it oppose it because of personal convictions such as our personal relationship with Jesus Christ and because of our legitimate concerns about the youth, the families and the individuals in Madison County. Because of my stance, I have been called "self-righteous," accused of being "holier than thou" and been labeled a hypocrite. Other people who are opposing it are also subject to the same abuse.
We have also been called unpatriotic because of our efforts to keep people from signing the petition and for not signing the petition ourselves. That is our First Amendment right!
The chairman of the group pushing the liquor referendum has sent letters, along with his petitions, which are muddled and confusing. Maybe he is trying to play on the fact about what he thinks of Madison Countians. He basically said that people from Madison County are a "bunch of idiots." This man has made the accusation that two people in Madison County threatened him. He refused to identify them to the sheriff although he told me and other members of the press that the sheriff has their names. The sheriff told me that he was never given the names. Someone else told me that he had identified them as a Baptist and a Methodist. Wow! That only rules out about ten percent of Madison County.
The man's second letter was basically a personal attack against me filled with hysterical inaccuracies. The letter for some reason had a slew of restaurants that he had eaten at on it. Seems like he doesn't like to spend his money in the county.
If the issue gets on the ballot I will be there voting against it. I know that others will vote for it. If it doesn't get on the ballot, I cannot be blamed. I did my job. The others will not have done theirs. Let's just be honest about it and leave the economy out of it!