City, chamber make right moves on alcohol

It's been over two months since voters in Monroeville approved the legal sale of alcohol within the city limits of Monroeville.
In the beginning, more than a few people grumbled that city officials and local business leaders had put the city on the slippery slope towards harming the family atmosphere that makes Monroeville a special place.
Those same people have reason to breathe a little easier this week because of two things that took place last week in Monroeville.
During a meeting of the Monroeville City Council last week, the council put its foot down and reminded citizens that alcohol is not to be consumed at any of the city's parks.
This reminder is directly in line with the city's new alcohol ordinance, which from the outset clearly prohibited the consumption of alcoholic beverages at any of its parks. Councilman Ed Rainey went on to say that he wanted to make sure that everyone understands that drinking alcoholic beverages at the city's parks will not be tolerated.
To put some teeth into these words, the city's police force has been instructed to enforce the ordinance as it is written.
Also last week, the Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce announced that it is sponsoring the Alabama Responsible Vendor Program, a program designed to help curtail the abuse of alcohol wherever it is sold.
Jim Rowell, a Monroeville business owner and a member of the Chamber's board of directors, is coordinating the program, includes standardized training for employees who sell or serve alcoholic beverages in Alabama.
The goal of the program is three-fold:
∑ To eliminate the sale of alcoholic beverages to underage persons and consumption of alcoholic beverages by underage persons.
∑ To reduce intoxication and to reduce accidents, injuries and deaths in the state that are related to intoxication.
∑ To encourage alcoholic beverage vendors to be prudent in their selling practices and to restrict or reduce the sanctions that may be imposed in administrative proceedings by the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board against those vendors who comply.
"The Monroeville Area Chamber of Commerce strives to continue to make our community safer by assisting our local vendors to comply with alcoholic beverage rules and regulations and to assist them in insuring their employees are fully trained in the sale or service of alcohol," Rowell said.
Based on the words and conduct of our city officials and local business leaders, it seems clear that they are sticking by their promise to ensure that alcohol will be sold and consumed responsibly within the city limits.
On the other side of the coin, many observers have noted that our local churches have once again fallen silent in the face of the other issues and problems that are tearing at the fabric of our county.
In the days leading up to the alcohol vote, our local churches showed that they were capable of standing together to voice their opposition to alcohol sales. While no one in the community ever supported the abuse of alcohol, local church leaders held rallies and raised money to fight the sale of alcohol in Monroeville.
In the wake of the alcohol vote, many of us have been left waiting for the next big rally. Local churches won't have to look far for an issue or problem to battle. Perhaps this time, rallies could be held against the abuse and sale of illicit drugs like crack cocaine and methamphetamine, pre-marital sex or even teen pregnancy.
In the end, I predict that you'll never see such rallies and to me, that's unfortunate and says a lot about the motive behind the fight against the sale of alcohol in Monroeville.