Voters in the northern Hatteras Island villages of Rodanthe Waves, Salvo, and Avon will have a chance to level the playing field for some of their neighbors who own restaurants when they go to the polls next Tuesday, July 12, to vote on whether liquor by the drink should be legal in Kinnakeet Township.
Restaurateurs in the northern Hatteras villages are literally surrounded by businesses with an advantage ? they can serve mixed drinks in their establishments.
The incorporated towns on the northern beaches have had liquor by the drink for some years. In 2007, Hyde County voters agreed that mixed drinks should be available on Ocracoke. The southern villages of Hatteras Township ? Buxton, Frisco, and Hatteras–passed a referendum on the issue quite handily last December. And, in June, mixed drinks were finally approved in Manteo on Roanoke Island.
So, restaurants along all of the Outer Banks except in the four small northern Hatteras villages can serve liquor to their patrons who want a buy a drink.
And restaurant owners interviewed for stories in The Island Free Press over the past four years all make it clear that a changing clientele on the island means that more visitors are surprised ? and sometimes unhappy — to find out they can order only a beer or wine with their meal, not a Margarita or a Manhattan.
Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, and Avon deserve to be on the same economic footing as their neighbors on the Outer Banks when it comes to meeting visitor expectations and maximizing their profit in a tough economic climate.
It?s too early to have any hard data on exactly what liquor by the drink has meant to the restaurants on southern Hatteras.
But there is anecdotal evidence that serving drinks has made a difference in this recovering economy.
There have been plenty of visitors on Hatteras in the past month, but, according to several businesses, they aren?t spending a lot of discretionary money on shopping or eating out.
Take, for example, the Sandbar and Grill in Buxton.
Jane Metacarpa, who owns the popular dining and late night music establishment with her husband John, said that the number of dinners served each evening in May were ?significantly? fewer than the year before.
However, she said, that mixed drinks sales are keeping the restaurant about even with last year. Sales tax on what the Sandbar sold in May was about the same as last year, despite the fact lunch did not start until mid-May and is now being served only Monday through Friday.
?Food is down, and liquor is up,? Metacarpa said this week. ?In this economy, if liquor by the drink hadn?t been passed, I?d be really worried.?
The sale of liquor by the drink in restaurants has not increased the number of DWIs on Hatteras, according to Lt. Greg Wilson, Hatteras Island deputy with the Dare County Sheriff?s Office.
From Jan. 1 through June 17 of last year, he said, the Sheriff?s Office issued 24 driving while intoxicated citations. For the same period this year, he said, only nine were given out by deputies.
Part, but not all of the reason, Wilson said, might have been that a deputy who had served on Hatteras for some time transferred to another area and was replaced with an officer who is less experienced on the island.
Despite, the change in deputies, he said, the Sheriff?s Office does not feel that serving mixed drinks in restaurants has increased the problems of driving and alcohol.
There is already plenty of alcohol for sale on Hatteras ? outside of restaurants. Beer and wine can be purchased in grocery stores and convenience stores. Liquor is readily available at the ABC store in Buxton.
Last year, before the Dec. 7 referendum on southern Hatteras, I talked to the North Carolina Highway Patrol and to the Hyde County Sheriff?s Office.
Literature was sent to voters last December claiming that communities with liquor by the drink have higher incidences of alcohol-related auto accidents. The information was attributed to the State Highway Patrol.
However, a spokesman for the Highway Patrol, said last December that the agency has done ?no research on that subject.?
Also, Hyde County Sheriff David Mason said that his office has not seen any increase in DWIs or alcohol-related auto accidents since mixed drinks became legal on Ocracoke more than four years ago.
?I don?t think there is anything to support those claims,? said Mason, who also noted that the office has had ?our fair share? of DWIs on Ocracoke, dating back to before mixed drinks were allowed. Part of that, he said, is that the island is a tourist destination and folks on vacation come to have a good time.
He noted that there is an ABC store on the island that sells liquor and that beer and wine have been legally sold at island stores and restaurants for some time.
Island churches that have actively opposed liquor by the drink in past referendums have been mostly silent on the issue this year, though clearly some voters will oppose mixed drinks on moral grounds.
The major challenge for the organizers of the next week?s referendum will be voter turnout.
Will enough folks who support liquor by the drink turn out in the middle of a busy tourist season to vote?
The organizers got the signatures of 325 of 1,334 eligible voters in Kinnakeet Township on a petition for a referendum.
Early one-stop absentee voting started on Thursday, June 23. It is available only in the Board of Elections office on Marshall Collins Drive in Manteo.
As of this morning, only 11 voters had cast their ballots.
Only two days remain for early voting ? Friday, July 8, from 8:30 until 5 p.m. and on Saturday, July 9, from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m.
By contrast, before the Dec. 7 primary in Hatteras Township, 477 people voted early, compared to 412 on election day.
The polls are open on Tuesday, July 12, from 6:30 a.m. until 7:30 p.m.
Please vote and consider that your neighbors with restaurants deserve a level playing field.
