Dr. Tim Kauffman, president of the Vote For Growth committee, spoke first about why people should sign a petition. Kauffman said he represented 50 committee members trained to gather petitions and “countless others” helping with the effort to get the wet/dry question on November’s ballot.
His reasoning behind joining the petition drive, he said, was his and other citizens’ right to vote.
“It’s an issue of democracy,” he told directors. “Any issue should have a majority rule.”
A flaw in the manner petitioners gathered signatures for a 2008 election caused the measure to be thrown out only days before ballots were counted.
The second part of his argument was economic growth. He said growth is “pretty stagnant around here” and contended that the legalized sale of alcohol in Clark County would bring in additional tax revenue and jobs, something he said was “an important piece of the puzzle.”
The Vote for Growth committee recently hired a company called Hard Count, Inc., to present statistics and help gather enough signatures for the question to be placed on a ballot.
The Rev. Rick Mays, pastor of Trinity Temple Assembly of God, addressed directors with his view against the petition.
After thanking the City Board for allowing him to speak, he apologized to directors for “taking valuable time out of your schedule and out of this meeting for this issue ... With all the things this city is facing and planning, the last thing this board needs to be doing is taking time to hear an issue in which this board holds no power in or control of.”
He said issues the board should be spending its time with are the Royal Theatre, a new fire station, efforts to beautify the city or other city business, “but not this issue.”
For the full story, see the Friday edition of the Siftings Herald.
