Jump to content

Should Benton County go Wet?


Should Benton County go Wet?  

23 members have voted

  1. 1. Should Benton County allow Liquor sales

    • Yes
      20
    • No
      3


Recommended Posts


  • Replies 75
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Well I noticed something in the paper today that could have an impact on Benton County. Surprised I haven't heard too much about this yet. Batesville is also in a dry county but the restaurants there as well have started selling liquor as a 'private club'. Someone is now taking this to court saying it doesn't realistically comply with the law, that dry counties are meant to be dry, not semi-dry. I believe this was already taken to the ABC Board but they didn't agree and have been allowing these restaurants to have liquor licenses. But now this apparently will be going through the court system now. I'm not sure if there's much of a chance of something serious getting turned over but it could provide enough impetus for Benton County to finally get voted wet so they don't have to wonder if they'll be able to buy any alcohol anywhere in Benton County including restaurants.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm saying that we are going to go wet.

Benton County alone is the "wettest" dry county in the state. We have over 70 private clubs, and more just keep on coming. I think they said by the end of they year we will have around 85+ or so. So many people up here support it, I think it will get passed in the 2006 election. I'm pretty sure the entire community of Bella Vista supports it, and so do all of the out of towners and such. The only real opposition is a few churches, but then again some churches support it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm saying that we are going to go wet.

Benton County alone is the "wettest" dry county in the state. We have over 70 private clubs, and more just keep on coming. I think they said by the end of they year we will have around 85+ or so. So many people up here support it, I think it will get passed in the 2006 election. I'm pretty sure the entire community of Bella Vista supports it, and so do all of the out of towners and such. The only real opposition is a few churches, but then again some churches support it.

I think even if they don't overturn the law regarding dry counties I think just the fact of it coming up and the potential of this coming up again in the future will help drive more support for it in Benton County. I imagine there are people who are happy with the way it is now but if you threatened to take all of it away including the 'private clubs' I think you'd get more people to support it becoming wet.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think even if they don't overturn the law regarding dry counties I think just the fact of it coming up and the potential of this coming up again in the future will help drive more support for it in Benton County. I imagine there are people who are happy with the way it is now but if you threatened to take all of it away including the 'private clubs' I think you'd get more people to support it becoming wet.

I agree. If they did take away all the private clubs, just think of all the business in alchol sales that Benton county would loose, especially with outside vendors and businessmen. It would be an atrocious thing to do up here. Especially since Rogers has about 40 private clubs up here, it would be an extreme negative on restaurant sales.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I agree. If they did take away all the private clubs, just think of all the business in alchol sales that Benton county would loose, especially with outside vendors and businessmen. It would be an atrocious thing to do up here. Especially since Rogers has about 40 private clubs up here, it would be an extreme negative on restaurant sales.

You guys could go back to the good ol' days and come down to Fayetteville to eat out. :D I have no idea if they would actually overturn something like this.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You guys could go back to the good ol' days and come down to Fayetteville to eat out. :D I have no idea if they would actually overturn something like this.

I remember those days. I guess the Scottsdale center in Rogers really started the whole "eating out in Benton County" craze. From what I can tell, there are about 15+ pad sites in the Pinnacle Promenade, Pinnacle Springs, and Pleasant Crossing developments that are wanting to accomidate national chains that have private clubs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I remember those days. I guess the Scottsdale center in Rogers really started the whole "eating out in Benton County" craze. From what I can tell, there are about 15+ pad sites in the Pinnacle Promenade, Pinnacle Springs, and Pleasant Crossing developments that are wanting to accomidate national chains that have private clubs.

Yeah I remember when there wasn't much to do in northwest Arkansas outside of Fayetteville. Although I miss some of Fayetteville's dominance in the area it is nice to see other areas of northwest Arkansas doing well and developing on their own too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The answer is Yes ONLY if they want to slow the population growth, increase taxes, and see higher crime rates. I have plenty of stats to back up my claims about wet vs. dry counties in AR, so don't try to come back at me with your uninformed comments.

Everyone thinks liquor and gambling is the answer to every state and local gov'ts money problems. That's a farce. The fastest growing counties in Central AR are dry. The fastest growing counties in NWA are dry. The fastest growing counties in NEA are dry.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The answer is Yes ONLY if they want to slow the population growth, increase taxes, and see higher crime rates. I have plenty of stats to back up my claims about wet vs. dry counties in AR, so don't try to come back at me with your uninformed comments.

Everyone thinks liquor and gambling is the answer to every state and local gov'ts money problems. That's a farce. The fastest growing counties in Central AR are dry. The fastest growing counties in NWA are dry. The fastest growing counties in NEA are dry.

You've got to be kidding. I don't have the energy to argue with this one right now. I'll come back later.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The answer is Yes ONLY if they want to slow the population growth, increase taxes, and see higher crime rates. I have plenty of stats to back up my claims about wet vs. dry counties in AR, so don't try to come back at me with your uninformed comments.

Everyone thinks liquor and gambling is the answer to every state and local gov'ts money problems. That's a farce. The fastest growing counties in Central AR are dry. The fastest growing counties in NWA are dry. The fastest growing counties in NEA are dry.

Interesting points although I'm not sure if I agree. I will admit alcohol and gambling won't solve all the problems. But I do think it's a good way to keep so much money from leaving the state. Some of the fastest growing counties may be dry but I think there are other factors involved than them being dry. In central Arkansas I think it's simply Population from Little Rock spilling out to suburbia. Which happen to be dry counties. I won't say there aren't problems to introducing gambling or having wet counties. But there are also advantages like increase revenue. I can't speak for all the other counties involved but I think Benton County isn't going to slow it's growth down because it is dry. I think it could actually help. I think many people are hesitant to move to Benton County from other parts of the country because it doesn't have features that they may be used to, like being in a wet county. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to pick on you or anything. I respect your views, but I just don't know if I agree with them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The answer is Yes ONLY if they want to slow the population growth, increase taxes, and see higher crime rates. I have plenty of stats to back up my claims about wet vs. dry counties in AR, so don't try to come back at me with your uninformed comments.

Everyone thinks liquor and gambling is the answer to every state and local gov'ts money problems. That's a farce. The fastest growing counties in Central AR are dry. The fastest growing counties in NWA are dry. The fastest growing counties in NEA are dry.

Calm down, no one's attacking you.

This is just an issue we are discussing and the possibilities it can have up here in Benton County.

But thankyou for stating your opinion, it's good to hear an opinion from someone who opposes the dry counties forming into wet counties.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am glad that Arkansas_buff stepped up and stated his opinion though. I guess I can see that it might be frustrating because I think just about everyone else on here are all pro wet or leaning that way. But I do hope people feel they can that they can discuss what their opinion is, even if it doesn't conform to what most of what everyone else thinks on here. This topic has brought to our attention that not everyone wants a lot of changes or a lot of development. I'm sure there are people who are happy the way things are currently. Just something to keep in mind.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's suppose to be on the 2006 ballot during the presidential election I think. So, around a year from now.

Well there should be plenty of time for everyone to voice their opinions. I'm sure we'll hear much more about this as the time gets closer.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well there should be plenty of time for everyone to voice their opinions. I'm sure we'll hear much more about this as the time gets closer.

The public meetings that have been going on have pretty much been in favor of becoming wet. Bella Vista seemed to have the most support.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've already posted these stats before, but I'll do it again here to get everyone up to speed. By the way... I'm not fuming or anything... not uptight or mad. I just don't want everyone to be fooled into thinking that by going wet, the county will benefit in the least. Sure, you may land an extra restaurant or two, but read the stats. This is not limited to any given area in the state, but is statewide:

The following is a comparison of crime statistics in wet and dry counties in Arkansas. The information in this section was taken from 1998 and 1999 crime figures reported by the Criminal Justice Institute at the University of Arkansas. Different crimes for different years were used for a better picture of the contrast. (No stats were available for later years.)

Percentages were figured per 1000 population and are averages of all counties

Wet county / dry county crime comparison of 8 major crimes for 1998

Percentage Differences:

122% more murder in wet

96% more rape in wet

326% more robberies in wet

127% more aggravated assault in wet

61% more burglaries in wet

29% more thefts in wet

86% more motor vehicle thefts in wet

205% more arson in wet

Wet county / dry county crime comparison of 7 serious but not major crimes for 1999

Percentage Differences:

142% more negligent manslaughter in wet

27% more simple assault in wet

120% more stolen property in wet

92% more vandalism in wet

90% more weapons violations in wet

29% more DUI's in wet

106% more drunkenness in wet

Average population growth from 1990 to 2000

in wet counties and dry counties in Arkansas.

(Taken from 2000 census data)

Wet - 7.4% avg. growth

Dry - 22% avg. growth

*******************************

Or this:

Average number of law enforcement personnel needed in 1998 for wet and dry counties

(Taken from the Arkansas Criminal Information Center)

Wet - 1 per 318 citizens

Dry - 1 per 501 citizens

or

37% more law enforcement personnel needed in wet counties

Once again, I'm not even trying to force some ideological opinion down everyone's throats here, I'm just stating facts... which speak for themselves. Thanks in advance for being open-minded about the issue.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do admit, you have some hard facts there. I guess part of my skepticism is how all of these figures work out. I'm pretty sure most of the larger cities in Arkansas are wet counties. While many of the dry counties are more rural. It would seem to me that the more populated areas will almost always have more crime and such than rural areas. I think even if Benton County doesn't become wet it will have an increase in crime anyway. With so much population growth going on here in northwest Arkansas and quite a few out of state people coming in also I think the crime rate is already rising here. Not that it's very bad, because it was pretty low in the first place. I don't have any figures but it just seems like there are more crimes the last few years than the time period before that. Maybe Matt can also address this, since he's lived his whole life in northwest Arkansas.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I do admit, you have some hard facts there. I guess part of my skepticism is how all of these figures work out. I'm pretty sure most of the larger cities in Arkansas are wet counties. While many of the dry counties are more rural. It would seem to me that the more populated areas will almost always have more crime and such than rural areas. I think even if Benton County doesn't become wet it will have an increase in crime anyway. With so much population growth going on here in northwest Arkansas and quite a few out of state people coming in also I think the crime rate is already rising here. Not that it's very bad, because it was pretty low in the first place. I don't have any figures but it just seems like there are more crimes the last few years than the time period before that. Maybe Matt can also address this, since he's lived his whole life in northwest Arkansas.

I think you made a great point Mith.

I don't have any figures on crimes in the area, but I can assure you that because of population growth, crime has also grown. The populated areas of Rogers and Bentonville have always had crime, but it seems in the last 5 or so years, crime has gone up like 20% or something. It seems like vandalism and domestic disturbances seem to have the biggest increases in recent past. We've had stings of Grafiti recently in Rogers that just make me sick :sick: . I think it's mainly because of the sheer population surge not because of things like private clubs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think you made a great point Mith.

I don't have any figures on crimes in the area, but I can assure you that because of population growth, crime has also grown. The populated areas of Rogers and Bentonville have always had crime, but it seems in the last 5 or so years, crime has gone up like 20% or something. It seems like vandalism and domestic disturbances seem to have the biggest increases in recent past. We've had stings of Grafiti recently in Rogers that just make me sick :sick: . I think it's mainly because of the sheer population surge not because of things like private clubs.

Although I do think Benton County should go wet I won't go as far to say that there won't be negatives to it. And it is possible that perhaps it being a wet county won't be as big of a economic advantage. But personally I do believe it will help and it might also help attract some people that may not have been very willing to move to the area.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Listen to yourselves. I mean... no offense... but your arguments all begin with "I think". Look, the crime rate in Greene County (Paragould), which is wet, is higher than Craighead County (Jonesboro), which is dry... and Green County has 1/3 the population of Craighead! The population argument does not hold water. Also, the crime rates are per capita. Not overall numbers. It would take 10 murders in Pulaski County to equal one murder in Greene County per capita.

Finally, the economics just don't add up. Additional law enforcement cost money... tax-payer money, which the sales of Alcohol does not come close to covering.

The sad part is... I have not even started in with the social issues of alcohol.

However, this will most likely be my last post on this topic. I think I would rather talk about issues pertaining to "Urban Planet" such as new developments across Arkansas... not gambling and drinking. It's been fun though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.