Guest Editorial Article on Alcohol...

The following is in the Tuesday, April 14, edition of the local newspaper: The Green River Sun. The vote on making our county wet (or, more technically, 'moist') is May 20th. Please pray for our community and specifically the one precinct (South Greensburg Precinct) that can vote on this issue.

Here's the article that I wrote for the paper:

Alcohol: The problem, not the solution!

If you would ask a typical individual in Green County what they value most they may respond with the answer: spouse, children, friendship, or faith. Most would not respond with the answer money or economy. As we approach the vote coming up about the sale of alcohol, we need to start asking ourselves two questions: (1) What is most important to us here in Green County? (2) In what direction do we want to see our community go?

Proponents of alcohol sales in our county, and other counties, have long touted the "economic benefits" of selling alcohol. For some it is a "magic pill" that will transform Greensburg into an economic ‘utopia.' If you view economic benefit to the community as a single restaurant making money, then you might be correct. If you view economic benefit more holistically and include police force costs, incarceration costs, and damage to public/private property is there really an overall economic benefit for our community? Let me be clear: Selling Alcohol in our community will not solve any of our problems, only create many new ones!

But, what if it did? What if our city's budget crisis was resolved through the sale of alcohol? (I do not believe it would, but let us hypothesize for a moment.) We would still have to ask: Is it worth all the side-effects? Alcohol is not without its share of accompanying problems. Alcohol has been directly responsible for physical, emotional, and sexual abuse of children. Alcohol has destroyed marriages and broken families. Alcohol has led to college and high school drop-outs. Alcohol has killed both the drunk and the innocent. Alcohol always, even one glass, impairs the drinker.

I guess the real question we have to ask ourselves when we vote on whether or not to legalize the sell of alcohol in our community is this: Do we value the possibility of a dollar more than the lives of our family, neighbors, peers, and fellow Green Countians?

If the almighty dollar is more important to us than the lives of our children, teenagers, families, neighbors, et cetera; then why stop at selling it by the drink? Why stop with just the social evil we call alcohol? Why not push through legislation that would allow us to sell marijuana? Why not put a casino on the Green River down at Legion Park? Why not push to legalize prostitution (that will bring ‘tourism')? Why not implement a process of euthanasia since the elderly are costing our community too much money? Why not open up an abortion clinic for those parents who cannot really afford to raise a child? Could we not say a baby's death will save us some money? Can we see the end to the thought process that is driving the sell of alcohol?

Since I have lived in this great county, my wife and I have started our family. We chose not to begin a family in Nashville for a host of reasons including, but not limited to, the prevalence and availability of alcohol. I have been proud to see our community be involved in "Project Graduation" and other programs to prevent any kind of substance abuse, but I am now perplexed at our hypocrisy in fighting this social evil and then proposing to sell it in our city!

What do we really want our community to be? Sixty-seven counties in our state are wet or moist and only fifty-three are dry. I think we should offer something here in Greensburg that very few other places have: a family-friendly community. Why do we not build a community on the great people that live here? I hope that Green County will continue to be a safe place to raise a family.

For that reason, among many, I cannot see why anyone would want to put a dollar before the people of our community. Friends, neighbors, and acquaintances in the South Greensburg Precinct, please, vote ‘No' on May 20, 2008 for every one's benefit!