Oconee County Chamber Of Commerce Not Taking Stand On Liquor By The Drink

While the Oconee County Chamber of Commerce provided Epps Bridge Centre developer Frank Bishop the platform to go public with his campaign for liquor by the drink in the county, the Chamber has taken a much weaker stand itself.

Bishop, the keynote speaker at the Chamber’s Banquet and Annual Meeting last Thursday night, asked the Board of Commissioners to put the issue on the ballot and the public to vote to allow restaurants to sell liquor.

Jonathan King and Jonathan Schwartz, 2013 and 2014 Chamber chairmen respectively, sent the members of the BOC a letter on Jan. 9 saying that the Chamber “wholeheartedly believes that the citizens and the business community should have the opportunity to vote on ballot questions that can impact our way of life.

“This first begins with the Board of Commissioners trusting those who put them in office to vote on the issue at hand.”

The letter makes no reference to alcohol and does not specify what the “issue at hand” is.

For details on this story, as well as a link to a video of Bishop’s presentation to the Chamber, go to Oconee County Observations.