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Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Not Quite Footloose in Danville, Kentucky

Kentucky might be famous for its Bourbon distilleries, but sections of the state can be conserative when it comes to consuming alcohol. Case in point: Danville.

The Danville City Council is meeting on May 29th to discuss a couple of alcohol related measures. The first is a review of the current law which bans alcohol sales on Sunday. Another proposed ordinance would ban karaoke and dancing in restaurants that serve alcohol.

City officials say that karaoke and dancing in restaurants creates crowds, which leads to "a bar type atmosphere" that they do not want in their community. There is no word on whether Kevin Bacon plans to appear at city hall for the meeting.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Danville needs to grow up and become completely wet.

The fact that the Alcoholic Beverage Control administrator herself proposed this ludicrous "Footloose" style legislation in an attempt to cripple restaurants which serve alcohol is ridiculous, and an embarrassment for the city itself. It's high time Danville stepped boldly into the 21st century, quit being a national joke, and improved the quality of life for its residents by anticipating sales of alcohol in common venues, supermarkets, and convenience stores like the rest of the nation and legislating it accordingly.

It is hard to lure businesses and new residents to Danville when the current citizens already have to drive sixty miles round-trip as gas prices spiral sky-high if they wish to purchase beer, wine, or liquor for home use or cooking. Now apparently rather than address this and help move the city forward, certain council members wish to take away even more freedoms. It was a huge step forward when alcohol sales were permitted in restaurants a few years ago. Danville would have gone under long before now if this had not happened. The negative consequences predicted by the local prohibitionists have been non-existent. Now it is time to move further ahead and allow package sales and Sunday licenses. However, roadblocks like this proposed poppycock karaoke and dancing ban continue to divert discussion away from the issue, and present Danville itself as a laughingstock.

It's obvious why the city is suffering from overcrowded jails, has a horribly understaffed law enforcement division, and will be half a million dollars in the hole soon as it drowns in debt. The city government is far too obsessed with attempting to limit growth areas by banning personal liberties rather than do their jobs properly and legislate and govern fairly.

Danville must go wet if it wants to grow and thrive, and remain an attractive place to relocate for individuals and businesses.