NEWS

Commissioner says Gaston is losing money as a dry county

County leader proposes allowing a vote on unincorporated alcohol sales

Michael Barrett
mbarrett@gastongazette.com
Douglas Deese checks his stock in the Monster Energy Drink cooler inside Country Corner store on Charles Raper Jonas Highway north of Stanley on Tuesday morning, July 18, 2017. Deese's store is in the unincorporated "dry" area of Gaston County, where alcohol sales are still illegal. Gaston is one of North Carolina's few remaining dry counties. [Mike Hensdill/The Gaston Gazette]

If you want a simple six-pack of beer along with a few other basic groceries and a full tank of gasoline, the Country Corner is not the one-stop answer you’re looking for.

Douglas Deese, the owner of the rural Alexis convenience store on N.C. 27, just north of Stanley, would like to change that. But he said Gaston County’s archaic identity as a place where alcohol sales are not allowed in unincorporated areas continues to put his business in a bind.

“I’m just wanting to be able to compete with the others around me, make a living and keep some people employed,” said Deese, a Gaston County native who has owned the store eight years. “I’m the only store on Highway 27 from Lincolnton to Charlotte that can’t sell alcohol. It’s hard when you can’t compete.”

At times in the past, Deese has pleaded with Gaston County commissioners to open the door for change, only to receive a stone-faced response. But at least one elected leader now says he is finally ready to see Gaston’s status as a dry county come to an end.

“From my perspective and that of other commissioners I’ve talked to, we have a lot of residents throughout the outskirts of the county who go to other counties to buy alcohol,” said Commissioner Tom Keigher. “They pass all kind of small neighborhood grocery stores and convenience stores. And I just don’t know why those places are not allowed to sell beer or wine.

In recent years, voters in numerous Gaston cities and towns that were once dry have approved referendums allowing for the sale of alcohol in various forms. Stanley, Ranlo and McAdenville are a few of the latest to do so.

But stores outside of those municipalities are left hanging. And Keigher said the current law makes it less likely that major restaurants or grocery stores would even consider building in those areas.

Within the next decade, 800 homes will be constructed on the South Point peninsula as part of the massive McLean housing community. But Keigher and others say Gaston’s dry status makes it more likely that residents there would continue going across the state line to Lake Wylie, South Carolina to eat, buy groceries and pick up alcohol. It’s already happening now, he said.

“I don’t know why we’re losing that tax revenue,” he said. “It’s basically an economic thing.”

Gaston County Attorney Chuck Moore said commissioners can’t just change the law themselves. They can only schedule a referendum and allow county residents to vote on whether or not to allow alcohol sales. Such a referendum has to appear on a general election ballot, meaning 2018 is the first time the county could put it up for a vote.

Deese said he hopes commissioners finally see the light and allow voters to have their say, one way or the other. A few years ago, he attended several county commission meetings in a row and pleaded with commissioners to schedule a referendum, though nothing came of it.

Keigher said he remembers that.

“I think what was more than likely is there weren’t four votes to get it passed,” he said.

He thinks that may have changed, and plans to bring a resolution forward for a vote in the next two months.

You can reach Michael Barrett at 704-869-1826 or on Twitter @GazetteMike.