Hopkinsville City Council gave final approval Tuesday to lifting the city’s prohibition on all Sunday alcohol sales.
The measure is expected to take effect by the end of the month. City Clerk Crissy Fletcher told Hoptown Chronicle that a required legal notice of the ordinance will run in the Kentucky New Era around May 25.
It passed 10-to-1 on second reading despite late opposition from a minister and two others who spoke at Tuesday’s city council meeting.
The Rev. Joe Bufford, the senior pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church, said he was motivated to speak after learning that no one had publicly stated any opposition at previous city meetings.
Bufford said he could personally attest to tragedies caused by people abusing alcohol. He countered the argument that the ordinance only expands sales for an additional 52 days year, saying, “They are the Lord’s days, and I hope we can keep them as such.”
Three people also spoke in favor of Sunday sales, including Daniel Brechwald, who led the effort to change the city’s alcohol ordinance. He again stressed the freedom of consumers to choose when they buy alcohol, along with the economic impact. Sunday sales are allowed in other nearby communities, including Clarksville, Tennessee.
Brechwald, who is an aviation officer at Fort Campbell, said he has friends who would like to move to Hopkinsville, “… but they don’t want to be told what to do on Sundays.”
An ordinance prohibiting Sunday alcohol sales was adopted in 1959. City council amended the law in 2005 to allow Sunday liquor by the drink, but only in larger restaurants.
Ward 12 council member Phillip Brooks cast the only no vote for Sunday sales at Tuesday’s meeting. He had voted in favor of the ordinance on first reading on May 3.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
