Starkville’s City Attorney Bill Stark submitted his report on Alderman Lee Beck’s proposed resolution to extend drinking hours to the city aldermen Tuesday. The bill would extend hours to 1 a.m. on Fridays, Saturdays and nights of specified special events such as Mississippi State University football games. Starkville residents have many different opinions concerning Beck’s proposal. Rick Welch, owner of Rick’s Cafe in Starkville, avidly supports the bill.
“I am in favor of the resolution because a lot of the games end too late for people to go out, and it’s a shame to have all these people in town and not be able to have them as guests,” Welch said. “Sometimes, it’s embarrassing to have people from out of town stop by after a game and have to turn them away.”
Welch said having a midnight curfew on beer hurts the area restaurants and businesses not only on game nights, but on nights of other area events.
“When the rodeo came last fall, it didn’t end until 11 o’clock,” Welch said. “I know I must’ve turned away at least 200 people.”
Many supporters of the resolution argue that extending beer hours will make Starkville safer by cutting down on underground drinking-drinking at unsupervised parties and keeping people in the bars where they can be supervised. Welch said he is not certain that this statement is true.
While he did point out that his entire staff is trained to detect and detain anyone who is intoxicated from driving, he is not sure the extended hours will deter underground drinking especially among those who are underage.
“It might reduce some underground drinking, but even if we extend hours to 1 a.m., people will still find other things to do,” Welch said.
Blake Williamson, a bartender at The Bar Formerly Known as Cheers, said he has his doubts about the resolution as well.
Williamson will be a senior in marketing at MSU this fall when he re-enrolls this coming semester. He works as a bartender to save up enough money to pay tuition.
Williamson said there are two sides to the argument that the bill would make the streets safer.
“Some people say it would make Starkville safer because that extra hour means everyone is not leaving the bars at the same time,” he said. “The argument against that, however, is that it gives them an extra hour to get drunk.”
“That means they [the bar owners] will be liable for those people who might slip by and try to drive while still intoxicated,” Williamson said.
Williamson explained that, according to state law, bar owners and bartenders can be held responsible for drunken driving accidents.
“If someone comes in and we serve them until they get drunk, and they get behind the wheel and kill someone, the bar and the bartender can be liable for that,” Williamson said.
Williamson said he also opposes the bill as a bartender because of the long hours it would involve.
Both sides admit that there are good and bad points to the resolution. Now that Stark has submitted his report, Starkville might soon see whether the Board of Aldermen believe the pros outweigh the cons.