It’s all in how you ask a question.
They say, “Wouldn’t you like to pick up a bottle of wine with dinner?”
That, of course, sounds very convenient and harmless.
But how about asking, “Do you want to double or triple the number of alcohol outlets in Kentucky?” You might get a different answer.
Or if you were asked: “Do you think wine should be stocked and sold by 16 and 17 year olds?” We think you would get a different answer.
- For now, the grocers have dropped gas stations and small grocery stores from their effort. But even without them, the number of alcohol outlets in Kentucky will double if this is passed. It would still be the greatest expansion of alcohol availability in Kentucky since the repeal of Prohibition, even without the gas stations and small grocery stores, for now.
- We believe their original intention of eventually including gas stations and small grocery stores still exists;
And here’s why:
1) Tennessee’s “Red White and Food” coalition (again, paid for by grocery stores) is a similar effort, and it currently includes gas stations and convenient stores in their push.
2) When a Kroger official was asked at a press conference in Louisville on March 3, 2008 about the inclusion of gas stations and small grocery stores in their legislative effort, his reply was, “Not this time around.”
3) Isn’t the silence by those being left out “this time around” - gas stations and small grocery stores - remarkable? If they didn’t have high hopes for themselves in the future, we think they would have been the first in line to oppose this.
