POCAHONTAS, Ark. – If you’re curious about the wet/dry petitioning process for this year in Randolph County, an informational meeting is set which may be of interest to you.
Keep Revenue in Randolph County, a group focused on the legalization of limited sale of alcohol in the community, will be hosting a meeting on Sunday, January 28. It begins at 2 PM and it is set at the Rendezvous Event Center on West Everett in Pocahontas (next to Bella Piazza, ironically, which has a private club permit to sell alcoholic beverages to its patrons).
The group hopes to promote accurate, factual information during its process and to ultimately, let the voters decide. Opponents of the issue, anticipating the voters will approve the change for Randolph County, fought the efforts with extreme prejudice in 2016. The biggest opponents of allowing the public to vote were liquor stores in neighboring counties which stood to suffer revenue loss from Randolph County residents having the freedom to buy what they want in their own neighborhood. This was according to public fundraising data filed with the secretary of state’s office.
Keep Revenue in Randolph County notes on their page that a maximum of three liquor stores could be opened in the county if Randolph goes wet. 4,000 registered voters in the county signed the petition in 2016. The U.S. Census Bureau estimates around 17,500 lived in the county, in total.
The group’s Facebook page says they need more volunteers to get signatures on petitions to give voters a chance to approve or deny the measure. Connect with them on Facebook here to learn more.
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