Sunday liquor sales issue gains national press

Snellville and Mayor Oberholtzer mentioned in a Time Magazine article about Sunday liquor sales issue throughout the United States.

On a local level, the push to undo the Sunday ban may face even stiffer 
opposition. Jerry Oberholtzer, mayor of Snellville, Ga., has been 
waging a six-year battle to legalize Sunday sales in hopes of bringing
 what he calls "white tablecloth restaurants" to town. But members of
 Snellville's First Baptist Church and others have thwarted his
 efforts.



The mayor had a brief victory in December when he was able to change
 an ordinance that finally allowed restaurants to serve on Sunday.
 Seven licenses were issued, and restaurants reported up to 20% 
increases in sales. But a local group filed suit challenging the 
legality of the process, and a judge issued an injunction weeks later suspending the licenses, after ruling that the issue of 
Sunday sales had to be taken to voters first. (On Feb. 9, the city appealed and Oberholtzer says he expects the issue to go
 to the state's Supreme Court.)
 
"Restaurants just lost Super Bowl weekend and now they're going to 
lose Valentine's Day," Oberholtzer says. "It's been devastating to 
them."

The problem for Snellville is partly geographic: although 
alcohol can't be sold within the city limits on Sunday, it can be in the
 surrounding county, so restaurants can set up right outside town.



Robert Jenkins, a former Snellville councilman and one of the filers, 
supports the ban. "This is the Bible Belt," he says, "and a lot of 
folks still believe in keeping the Lord's Day holy. To a lot of 
people, buying whiskey and drinking on Sunday is not holy."


Are Liquor Laws Making Your Valentine's Day Blue?
TIME