MONTICELLO – A referendum that would ban beer sales here willnot be on the November ballot, officials said.

In a letter to County Attorney Malcolm Rogers, Phil Carter, aspecial assistant attorney general, says the referendum petitionfell short on signatures.

“You state in your letter that the circuit clerk has certifiedthat 1,610 registered voters signed the petition and that 20percent of the total number of voters in the county is 2,121. Basedon these facts and the authority cited above, the board ofsupervisors could not lawfully authorize the placing of areferendum to prohibit the sale of beer and light wine on theNovember ballot,” according to a copy of the letter obtained by TheDAILY LEADER.

The petition’s 1,610 registered voters represent 15 percent ofthe county.

However, the statute named in the petition, submitted by theLawrence County Christian Alliance, is not specific in its intentto ban beer sales, citing “all intoxicating liquor.”

Liquor, which commonly describes beverages with an alcoholcontent more than 5 percent, has never been approved for sale inthe county by voters. The sale of beer and light wine was approvedby voters in 1991.

The number of signatures required for beer and light wine andthat required for liquor are different under state law.

While beer and light wine require signatures of a firm 20percent of registered voters, the statute for liquor requires 20percent or 1,500 signatures, whichever is lower.

“The sections they have on there are for intoxicating liquor,and they have enough signatures for intoxicating liquor, but theydo not have enough for beer and light wine is the understandingthat I have,” Circuit Clerk Cindy Stokes said.

Rogers said late last week he was submitting the petition to theattorney general to determine whether it could appear on the ballotunder the submitted title.

Carter did not issue a legal opinion on whether the statutecould be applied to beer sales.

“Whether the explanatory heading is sufficiently clear in askingfor a referendum on discontinuing the sale of beer and light winesis a question that must be determined by the board of supervisors,”Carter wrote.

However, Jacob Ray, a spokesman for the attorney general’soffice, said today after consulting with Carter that the referendumwas dead.

“The fatal error is that there just isn’t enough signatures,even if they had cited the right statute,” he said.

It would be difficult to get the required number of signaturesin time to appear on the November ballot, Ray said.

County election commissioners are meeting today to prepareNovember’s ballot, so any further attempts to get a referendumbanning beer sales on the ballot will likely have to wait until thenext election, Stokes said.

“The latest the ballot layout can be sent to the printer is noonWednesday in order to have them by Sept. 20,” she said. “Anychanges to the ballot must be completed by then.”

The ballots must be printed by Sept. 20 for the opening of theabsentee ballot period, she said.