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ABC store protesters feel officials let them down

Your Voice

Letters to the Editor

Published: May 27, 2009

I am a member of the Committee of Concerned Citizens, a group of Terrell and Sherrills Ford residents who fought against an ABC store in Terrell.

A May 8 article in the Record stated the store's location is about four miles from the original site on N.C. 150. The distance is 1-1/2 miles.

Ray Abernathy Jr., general manager of the Catawba County ABC board, said residents in Terrell protested plans for the initial store as early as March 2008. He said there was not a single complaint to the new ABC store's location.

The reason there was no complaint is because the committee had no knowledge about the new location in time to do anything about it.

In August 2008, the committee had a meeting with the former chairman of the ABC board, Randy Isenhower. He told us the board had withdrawn the option to purchase the site on N.C. 150 and Sherrills Ford Road. We asked if he would inform us, if and when the board decided upon a new location. He said he would.

We also asked him to pass on to the board our objections to a liquor store anywhere between the first site and the 150 bridge going into Iredell County. We told him that if a new location was picked for that area, they would have another fight on their hands. We still have 1,500 names on petitions who oppose any ABC store in Terrell.

I spoke with Anne Davis, the new chairman of the county ABC board. I asked her if the Catawba County Board of Commissioners would have known about the new location of the store before the request went to Raleigh. She said they would have received a copy of the minutes of the ABC board meeting showing the new location before it was submitted for approval.

The commissioners knew how hard the CCC had worked on protesting an ABC store in Terrell, yet did nothing about it. When the committee contacted ABC commissioners in Raleigh, we were told that there was no recourse for us. They indicated that all procedures were properly followed.

This committee is disappointed that we were not notified by any of the county commissioners or anyone from the local ABC board about the new location. They let us down. We feel the ABC board slipped this through Raleigh before we could take any action on it.

When I spoke with Mr. Abernathy recently, I told him I could think of many things our community could use rather than an ABC store.

He assured me of how careful they are to not sell alcohol to under-age people. I told him that does not keep it from destroying the homes and lives of children and young people. It does not keep drunks off the road.

I don't think anyone can tell me of a family that is better off by having alcohol in their home.

Betty Holdsclaw
Terrell

Reader doesn't ask about sexual orientation

Some of the most vocal gay-bashers are closeted gay men who live in fear of being discovered.

The Republican Party has supported the election of many of them.

Maybe if all the gays were out of the closet, we could reopen the restrooms in our public parks.

I don't know if I know any gay people because I would never think to ask. Why would anyone care?

Life is too short to sweat the small stuff, and religious fanatics are just sad people who don't have the courage to walk through this life with dignity.

They shame themselves and others who embrace the garbage they spew.

Marsha Herrick
Hickory