Efforts are underway to legalize alcohol sales in two dry counties in western Arkansas.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. supports it, but some liquor store owners in nearby wet counties don't.
Crawford and Johnson counties are in the Arkansas River Valley along Interstate 40, one of the nation's major east-west thoroughfares. An average of 24,000 vehicles per day travel Interstate 40 through Crawford and Johnson counties, which are separated by Franklin County.
Retail alcohol sales are legal in only two of the six Arkansas counties along Interstate 40 between Pulaski County and the Oklahoma state line.
Kevin Holmes, secretary for Keep the Dollars in Crawford County, said the county has been dry for 74 years. While men were fighting in World War II, women in Crawford County voted it dry and it has stayed that way, he said.
Marcia Cooksey, who owns Marcia Cooksey Interiors of Van Buren, said the town's Main Street might die if the county doesn't allow liquor sales.
"The town wouldn't even be here if it hadn't been for saloons, because they had to have a saloon to get the guys to come here and build the town in the first place," Cooksey said. "It's a necessary ingredient in this day and time and has been forever."
Susan Edens, chairman of Keep Our Dollars in Johnson County, said chains like Applebee's and Chili's would be more likely to open restaurants in Clarksville, the county seat, if alcohol sales were legal there.
"Part of our whole motivation is just to add to the things we have in town, and many of those things are recreational opportunities," she said. "The Mulberry River is so close with canoeing, hiking and things like that."
Petition drives are underway in both Crawford and Johnson counties to get alcohol sales on the Nov. 8 general election ballot.
The drives need to collect valid signatures from 38 percent of residents who are registered voters as of June 1, said Mary Robin Casteel, staff attorney for Arkansas Alcoholic Beverage Control administration.
The ballot questions would permit the sale and manufacture of alcoholic beverages.
If the measures pass in either county (or both), off-premises beer and small-farm wine permits could be issued as soon as the results are certified, Casteel said. Also, beer, small-farm wine and other wine would be legal immediately for on-premises consumption.
But a lottery would have to be held to issue permits to sell liquor, malt liquor and most wine for off-premises consumption, so it would be awhile before those would be available, she said.
To sell liquor by the drink countywide, a subsequent vote would have to be held, Casteel said. But towns, cities and some property owners' associations could enact their own liquor-by-the-drink ordinances without requiring a public vote.
Shayne McKinney, president of Keep the Dollars in Crawford County, said more than 10,000 signatures have been collected out of more than 11,000 needed, but they have yet to verify all of them.
Edens wouldn't say how many signatures have been collected in Johnson County. She said they need about 5,200.
"I can't give you an exact number on our signatures and I wouldn't want to because I want to get those verified first, but we are in good shape," she said.
Both groups are trying to complete the initial petition drives in early July. That way, if some signatures aren't certified and they need more, they'll have time to collect them.
Organizers in both counties have hired researchers from the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville to study how much revenue is lost to surrounding counties in alcohol sales.
If Crawford County had allowed alcohol sales in 2015, residents would have spent $8.5 million on beer and $7.1 million on liquor and wine in the county, according to the study from UA's Center for Business and Economic Research. Those retail sales of alcohol would have generated an additional 2.4 percent in sales tax revenue for Crawford County, or $272,754, in addition to $285,742 in city sales taxes.
If Johnson County had been a wet county last year, residents would have spent $2.5 million on beer and $2.1 million on liquor and wine in the county, according to a study of that county. Those sales would have generated an additional 1.6 percent in sales tax revenue for Johnson County, or $46,691, and $74,706 in city sales taxes.
Researchers reached those numbers by using Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration records regarding the sales of beer, wine and liquor by retail establishments in wet counties. Businesses remit taxes to the state based on alcohol sales -- a 1 percent excise tax on beer and 3 percent on wine and liquor.
UA researchers used those figures to determine overall beer, wine and liquor consumption in Arkansas. Then they divided the total sales by population data from the U.S. Census Bureau to estimate consumption of alcoholic beverages per person above the age of 21 in Arkansas.
Consumer expenditure data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics was then used to adjust the estimates of per-person alcohol expenditures for the county if necessary. Using this method, researchers were able to estimate the total value of retail liquor sales that would have occurred in the counties had they been wet in 2015.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been a major contributor to the efforts in Crawford and Johnson counties to get the alcohol question on the November ballot.
Through March, Keep the Dollars in Crawford County received $102,000 in contributions, with $101,000 of that coming from Wal-Mart, according to filings with the Arkansas Ethics Commission. The organization spent $52,800 during that period.
Through March, Keep Our Dollars in Johnson County had received $65,890 in contributions, with $62,000 of that coming from Wal-Mart. The organization spent $62,060 during that period.
The Bentonville-based retailer has a Supercenter in Clarksville and two in Crawford County (in Alma and Van Buren).
Crawford County loses most of its alcohol revenue to Fort Smith, which is separated from Van Buren and Crawford County by the Arkansas River, said McKinney.
"We're the largest county trying to go wet this year in Arkansas," he said.
Crawford County had a population of 61,948 when the census was conducted in 2010.
Johnson County had a population of 25,540 in 2010.
Opposition groups have formed to fight the alcohol efforts. In Crawford County, the opponents call themselves Stay Dry, Stay Safe. In Johnson County, the group is Stand Strong, Stay Dry, Be Safe Committee.
Through March, the Crawford County opposition group had received $84,000 in contributions, all of which came from an entity called Citizens for Our County's Future, which is in Van Buren. The Crawford County opposition group spent $37,581 through March.
For the same period, the Johnson County opposition group had received $85,000, all of which came from an entity called Share Committee in Russellville, which is the Pope County seat. The Johnson County opposition group spent $81,717 through March.
Through March, the Share Committee received $95,000 in contributions, all of which came from the Conway County Legal Beverage Association, according to ethics commission filings. The Share Committee spent $85,069 through March.
Last month, Bryant Adams, a spokesman for the Stand Strong committee, said the Conway County Legal Beverage Association is a group of liquor-store owners in Conway County. He said the group is opposing the Johnson County petition effort to protect its business interests. Conway County is surrounded on all sides by dry counties. Pope County is between Johnson and Conway counties.
Officers with the opposition groups didn't return telephone calls on Friday.
April numbers have yet to be filed with the ethics commission.
Holmes said he believes the owner of a Fort Smith liquor store is behind the Stay Dry, Stay Safe group, but that wasn't clear from the filings with the ethics commission.
"They have shielded their money very well," said Holmes.
In 2014, Johnson County was one of six Arkansas counties that voted for Amendment Issue No. 4, which would have approved the sale and manufacture of alcohol statewide. The issue passed in Johnson County by a vote of 3,287 to 3,255. Since the amendment failed statewide, Edens said it makes sense to take the issue to county voters since they've indicated they're in favor of alcohol sales.
Crawford County voters rejected the 2014 amendment by a vote of 9,585 to 6,567.
Metro on 05/14/2016