Robbinsville – Formal at times – contentious at others – the Jan. 8 town Board of Aldermen meeting was spearheaded by a 45-minute public comment period on a proposal that would allow voters to decide on alcohol sales within the city limits.
More than 75 citizens lined up around City Hall as the start of the meeting drew closer, forcing the session to be moved across the street to the Graham County Courthouse. Once assembled, the town went through both old and new business on the agenda, while the public patiently waited its turn.
Mayor Steve Hooper later opened the floor for public comment. What started as a three-person limit on either side of the alcohol debate quickly evolved into a rapid-fire “yay” and “nay” discussion around the room.
Clergymen and even some public officials spoke against the proposal, which has been brought back to the forefront by the Prosperity Committee, organized in 2018. However, for every quote of Scripture, testimony of faith and tear-inducing personal tales of what dangers alcohol sales would bring into Graham County, a surprising amount of those in attendance spoke freely and boldly about ending the 72-year stint of prohibition in North Carolina’s only remaining dry county.
“It would go a long way to helping Robbinsville be more productive, bring in more people and bring in more tax revenue,” said Anne Hager, speaking on behalf of the Prosperity Committee. “We think it would be the right thing to let the people vote on this.”
“My wife and I bought our home here 19 years ago and invested just about everything we have in our home. We do all of our shopping in Robbinsville,” Roger Carlton expressed on behalf of the committee. “This is not an easy decision; this is what you call a ‘defining moment.’ This is about making the toughest decision that some of you may ever make as elected officials.
“You’ve heard a number of people saying this isn’t about alcohol; it’s about letting your citizens vote.”
“We love it here. We love the people here,” said Lynn Kindley, a local real estate broker who is retired from the U.S. Air Force. “Robbinsville has changed. As a real estate broker – and other brokers have seen this – people do not want to stay here. They do not want to come visit, and we are a tourist town. It moves on. This people have a lot of options, and they’re not going to live or stay here.”
“I’m only here to keep the peace, but we’ve got more than we can deal with now as far as the drug problem and everything else we deal with,” Graham County Sheriff Joseph Jones said. “I don’t drink. People may drink; that’s their business. I’ve never seen anything but disaster from drinking. We deal with it every day.”
“Alcohol is a drug,” said Mike Teem with Grace Extended Ministries. “Since Oct. 4, 2019, I’ve had over 200 face-to-face meetings with people who have either alcohol or drug-addiction problems. The majority of them is alcohol.
“I’ve not heard anything good – from any of those people that have abused it – and I would ask this committee: please don’t put this on the ballot. I’m simply against it because of what I see every day. Kids, homes, families; I’ve never seen anything good from it.”
“I’m not really proud of this, but I was on meth for eight years of my life,” the Rev. Patrick O’Dell added. “I want to tell every one of you that I didn’t start off on meth; the first thing I ever did in my life was drink a beer. It leads to a lot of other things. I don’t want to disrespect anybody; I love the Lord, I love people, God knows my heart.
“I love people coming to our county; I see why they want to come here. One thing I don’t understand that I’ve seen as long as I can remember – why people that want to come to our county so bad, and then they want to change it.”
Perhaps acting as a buffer between the topics, the board voted 2-1 to move forward with a lease agreement between the Town and GREAT – Graham Revitalization & Economic Action Team – on the old VFW building. GREAT will pay the town $500 a month as part of the 10-year lease.
The town then moved to the main reason for the sudden uptick in attendance.
Alderman Shaun Adams raised a Bible sitting at the table in the courtroom and said, “I’m going to vote no. I’m going to take a stand for God,” drawing a mixture of cheers and jeers.
Before any further votes could be cast, town attorney Ellen Davis said a vote at the meeting would be “premature,” pointing out that the Graham County Board of Elections informed the town that even if the resolution was passed, it would not appear on the ballot until November 2021.
The election board later confirmed this at its Monday meeting, citing G.S. 163-287, which focuses specifically on special elections.
“Our interpretation of that statute is different, so we would like to note – for the record – that we object to the county Board of Elections’ reading of the statute and would seek further comment from the state Board of Elections on that issue,” said attorney Brady Cody, representing the Prosperity Committee.
Davis advised the aldermen to digest the public input they just heard and vote on the resolution later. The motion carried to table the discussion, and the courtroom whittled down to two public attendees after Hooper called for a five-minute recess.
Other news and notes from the meeting include:
* Mike Wallace with Core & Main gave a lengthy presentation on a new water meter system – Neptune – which the Town of Lake Santeetlah uses. At a cost of $300,000, Adams expressed great concern about how the system would be paid for, with payment plans and grants being discussed around the room.
This is not the first such presentation made to the board. Hooper pointed out that a final decision did not have to be made until the new budget is set in June.
* The board unanimously approved a resolution that allowed the Graham County Tax Assessor to waive penalties and fees for water and sewer customers that were incorrectly billed at out-of-town rates in 2015. The assessor’s discoveries were just recently made and each property in-question sits along the town’s borders.