The measure, which would give cities and counties the option of allowing local restaurants to begin serving alcohol at 10 a.m. on Sundays, has been bottled up in the North Carolina Senate.
Under current law, restaurants can’t serve alcohol until noon. Moving the time back to 10 a.m. could mean about $25,000 in additional revenue for the average restaurant, according to Lynn Minges, president/ceo.
“The reality is we live in an age where people drink alcohol, and there’s no logical reason not to serve it earlier if consumers are demanding it,” Minges said.
Needless to say, some preachers oppose the measure. “There are plenty of studies that reveal, if you roll back prohibition on alcohol sales on Sunday as much as just two hours, it does cause a spike in dangerous consumption rates and alcohol-related problems,” Rev. Mark Creech, executive director, Christian Action League of North Carolina, said.
“All of this I see as a tacit disrespect for churches,” he said. “Churches work very hard to minister to people whose lives are harmed by and ruined by alcohol abuse. There’s something disrespectful about that [changing the law]. It’s indicative of our times, but it’s still not right.”