Javier Espitia, left, buys two packs of Coronita Extra from Jennifer Crisp, a cashier at Cox’s Spirits, in Dalton, Ga.
Staff File Photo by Allison Carter/Chattanooga Times Free PressATLANTA – Retailers in several Georgia cities began ringing up beer, wine and liquor Sunday for the first time since voters in many communities statewide ended more than a century of banning alcohol sales on what many consider a day of worship.
“When you want it, you want it,” said Foster Saunders, who picked up an $18 bottle of red wine a week earlier in Winder, where Sunday booze sales began Nov. 13. “I just feel like it’s a basic right, a freedom, for somebody to be able to purchase something that’s legal Monday through Saturday.”
Other Georgia municipalities are catching up after voters less than two weeks ago approved Sunday alcohol sales in more than 100 local elections. State lawmakers opted to allow cities and counties to decide the issue for themselves. Governments in those that voted to end the once-a-week prohibition now must decide the date for sales to become legal.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that happened Sunday for at least 18 cities in Cherokee, Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton and Gwinnett counties.
Keidra Dobbs, of Duluth, said she was “definitely excited” to be able to pick up some beer Sunday from a package store near her house before settling down to watch sports.