Editor,

I really don’t understand what the big deal about restaurants selling alcohol is for business owners and residents in Leitchfield or for that matter, Grayson County.

All across America, small towns allow the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants and even at pharmacies and convenience stores and the people of these towns are God fearing and family oriented. It amazes me that life in Leitchfield could be any worse because some restaurants have a chance to sell alcohol in their businesses to adults.

On one side, you have primarily church groups who continue to preach the evils of alcohol and how it will destroy families throughout the community and on the other side, you have a group of individuals who say it will bring economic prosperity and growth to Leitchfield.

Both sides say they have the facts on their side.

Well, here is a fact or two: The sale of alcohol isn’t going to rescue Leitchfield. It could very well help and in fact will perhaps be an asset in bringing jobs and industry to Leitchfield — which I might add, are desperately needed. Furthermore, the evil of alcohol is already here. People haul hundreds of gallons of alcohol in the form of beer, wine and hard liquor into Grayson County each and every week. So as for the “no” group saying keep alcohol out of this community, well it’s too late. That pig has already been slaughtered.

Now, I’m not from Leitchfield, but I’ve visited several times in the past and to be honest, I love Grayson County. I also greatly enjoy going to restaurants with my wife and children and the thoughts of seeing somebody drinking a beer or mixed drink doesn’t really bother me. If my kids ask about it, I’m going to be a parent and say the things I should say regarding alcohol. I look at it as a chance to teach my kids about the dangers of alcohol, much as I do every single time we see where somebody has gotten killed in an alcohol-related accident.

I only hope that the folks who are campaigning so hard against Leitchfield restaurants having a chance to sell alcohol and increase their business stay out of the “nice” restaurants in Elizabethtown or Bowling Green that sell alcohol, because the last thing we need are more hypocrites in this world.

Best wishes,

Fred Goins

Winston-Salem, North Carolina