County drink option now in cities' hands
Staff reporter
Since liquor-by-the-drink has passed in Marion County, the ball is in the cities' courts.
Burns City Council adopted an ordinance Tuesday to allow liquor-by-the-drink within its city limits. This will allow The Buffalo Gulch Ranchhouse to apply for a new liquor license to sell individual alcoholic beverages to everyone of legal drinking age, not just members of the establishment.
Governing bodies of each city within the county have the option to adopt an ordinance to amend previous on-the-premises liquor consumption which followed the county's law.
Tom Goeneman, information officer with Alcohol Beverage Control Enforcement and Administration, said when certification is received from the county election officer of the election results, existing clubs or new businesses in Marion County could file a new application with the state for the status change.
Carol Maggard, county clerk and election officer, said state statute requires abstract election results be received by the state within two weeks of the election which would be Tuesday. The results do not include results of local questions or local candidates, only state and federal positions.
Owners of establishments like the former Kingfisher's Inn, which is located within the county but not within a city, could apply for a liquor license with 30 percent food consumption, when the election results are received by the state.
The liquor question on the ballot resulted in 3,404 yes votes and 2,519 no votes.
A breakdown of votes, indicated a majority of yes votes in Marion, Florence, and Peabody. Hillsboro voters recorded 656 no votes and 499 yes votes.
Marion city ballots revealed nearly 600 yes to 209 no votes, a margin of nearly three-to-one.
Florence city ballots totaled 157 voting yes to 56 voting no. Peabody city voters had 304 yes and 196 no votes.
Township precincts that voted down the local option question were Doyle (15 yes, 20 no), East Branch (37 yes, 44 no), Liberty (48 yes, 94 no), Menno (58 yes, 79 no), Risley (43 yes, 63 no), and Goessel (city)/West Branch (181 yes, 250 no).
A narrow margin of advance voters, 275 yes to 211 no, helped the question to pass.
