Since this wet/dry vote became an issue I have been asked my position on the subject several times

My position is an easy one. I do not have one. I no longer live in the city of Leitchfield and since only city residents get to sign the petition and vote on it how I feel about the subject is a moot point. Nonetheless, I am going to take a moment to express my views on the topic.

Alcohol has always been a part of my life. Growing up in a very Irish, German, Catholic family, beer was served like water. It was very acceptable and I never gave it any thought. As a matter of fact when I returned to Penn. this summer for a family reunion there was a cooler for the soda, one for water and one for the beer. I must say I was a little surprised to see it but as I looked around not any more people were drinking beer than water. It was just there.

I was 23-years-old the first time I crossed the border into Kentucky from Tennessee and my ex-husband looked at me and said, “This is the last place you can buy alcohol.” I thought he was crazy. To me prohibition went out in the 1920s and alcohol was legal everywhere. I never dreamed there was anywhere in the US that you could not buy a beer when you wanted. Later during that visit to his mom and dad he took me to a bootlegger and that was an experience I will never forget. But until that point I had never realized there was anywhere you could not walk into a store, restaurant or packaging store that you could not buy alcohol when you wanted.

We later moved to Louisville and then South Carolina where alcohol is legal to sell. Then we moved here and for the first time in my life I have lived somewhere that I cannot go to the store or restaurant and order a beer with dinner. It has never bothered me one bit. But I gave up alcohol long ago and I did drink plenty in my younger days.

But the reason I gave up alcohol was not religious and not because I was ever an alcoholic, it was because when we lived in Louisville we were foster parents and I saw first-hand what the alcohol did to those children. I saw those lives ruined with what began with one drink. My heart became so heavy and my conviction about alcohol so strong that I no longer drink. I must say I do love the taste of a good beer on a hot day so it is not something I give up easily.

With all that said, how I feel about the vote is this. I salute these two men for taking the initiative to go to the city to try to make a change. They have done more than just talk and have acted.

Not everyone is going to agree with this change but isn’t it a wonderful thing that we live in a country that gives the people a choice like this. As citizens of this great nation we can still have a say in the way things are in our city, county and country are done. Most of the time we do not take the time to or make the effort to make a change. We as citizens must be willing to do more than just complain about the way things are and step out to make that change. Sometimes it is as simple as saying, “I want this to change and I am willing to do what it takes to make this change.”

To me someone who signs the petition does not necessary support the legalization of the sale alcohol in Leitchfield. That signature may be someone saying he believes in our governmental system and the right to give people a choice in what happens in our city.

When and if this vote makes the ballot I encourage every citizen to get out and vote because that is one of the things that makes our nation great. Everyone gets a choice and that vote is between you and God and the ballot box.