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http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=50528&rnews_story_type=18&category=10]http://www.rnews.com/Story_2004.cfm?ID=50528&rnews_story_type=18&category=10[/link]
Town Mistakenly Bans Beer
by Seth VoorheesPhoto by Todd KrupaPublished Jun 26, 2007
It's the dictionary definition of small-town America. The town of Potter is in the heart of Finger Lakes farm country. There#%92s a way of life most townsfolk wouldn't change.
“The people like their rural setting,” said Potter supervisor Len Lisenbee. “They like having it the way it is.”
If they could change one thing, it would probably the vote taken two Novembers ago, which caused a hangover that's still being felt. A vote that threatens to make potter a dry town.
“I think there was a lot of confusion over it,” said Potter resident Paula Haury.
When a voter's confused, they generally vote no,” said Lisenbee.
The whole mess started when the former owner of the Hitchin' Rail, a restaurant and convenience store in town, wanted to start serving beer and wine with food. State law required a referendum, which posed five questions that Lisenbee says were so poorly worded no one knew what they meant.
“Very confusing,” said Lisenbee of the state proposition. “If you saw the wording you'd wonder. You really would.”
When the dust settled, beer sales were banned once liquor licenses expire. The beer ballot left voters in a haze.
“They weren't happy,” said Haury of the reaction following the vote. “Nobody was happy after they figured out what happened.”
Fred Brown owns Federal Hollow Staples, the only place in Potter that sells beer. Sells it, until this Saturday -- when his liquor license runs out.
If he can't sell beer?
“I'd close my store,” said Brown, of the business he#%92s run for 33 years. “Beer's only about 25 percent but what they buy with the beer that's 70 percent of my sales.”
Though most Potter residents voted for it, you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone in town who actually wants the beer ban.
“Nobody has approached me saying they're against the sale of beer,” said Lisenbee.
For Potter's only store where you can pick up a six pack of ice cold brew, help may be on the way. The state senate and assembly both passed legislation which would extend Federal Hollow's license to sell beer through November.
A spokesperson for Governor Eliot Spitzer tells us the governor will consider the bill, but hasn't signed it yet.
Fred Brown says that's cutting it way too close.
“You think I want to wait until the last week of June to find out? No, I never did,” said Brown.
Brown says at least 60 customers have apologized for voting "no" -- apparently not knowing what would happen.
Lisenbee says the state should say it's sorry for causing the confusion. And that's not all.
“I would suggest the state Alcohol Control Board update their laws,” says Lisenbee. “And help us out here. we're just common folk.”