Alcohol Sales Petition Begins Circulating in Longview

A petition to allow a remaining dry section of Longview to sale beer and wine is now circulating at some area retailers.

A group of citizens has announced the formation of the “Longview United for Growth Committee and is asking voters to support limited alcohol sales, beer and wine only, for the current boundaries of Longview.

Currently, Longview alcohol sales are based on elections held after Prohibition that legalized alcohol sales on the southern and eastern part of the city to the Gregg-Harrison County line. In 2007, Longview citizens voted to allow mixed beverage alcohol sales in restaurants.

Longview United feels the economic development of northern and western parts of Longview are being hampered because beer/wine off-premise sales are not allowed on most of the Loop 281 northern corridor from approximately Tryon Road East to Harrison Road West. Changing this law would allow those areas to be able to recruit more supermarkets and grocery stores, allow the existing grocery stores to compete with stores in the ‘wet’ area and would also bring east Longview under the same rules.

Kimberley Fish, Treasurer of the Longview United for Growth says they will need about 6,000 signatures from registered voters to place it on the May 2013 ballot.