As Georgia moves closer to allowing alcohol sales on Sunday, leaders in some rural communities say it will never happen where they live.
“Sunday is church day and God’s day in my book,” Trenton Mayor Barton Harris said. “If you can’t get it the other six days of the week, I think you’ve messed yourself up.”
The state Senate last week approved legislation that would allow counties and municipalities to vote on whether packaged alcohol, including beer, wine and hard liquor, can be sold in grocery and liquor stores on Sundays. It’s not the first time such a proposal has been heard in the General Assembly, but it’s the first time it has gotten this far.
The legislation, Senate Bill 10, now goes before the House, where lawmakers say it stands a good chance of being approved.
Georgia is one of only three states – along with Connecticut and Indiana – that still ban packaged alcohol sales on Sunday. But in the face of staunchly conservative religious values in Georgia, state officials have been reluctant to make any quick changes, experts say.