The Starkville Board of Aldermen approved an amendment to the alcohol ordinance relating to open containers for special events during its last meeting.
The amendment was approved by the board with a 4-3 vote. Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver, Vice Mayor and Ward 6 Alderman Roy A'. Perkins and Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn voted against the ordinance amendment.
For each special event, an application must be submitted to the board for approval. In the application, the special event would designate where the boundaries would be located for open containers.
During the meeting, Perkins was the only person who spoke in opposition of the amendment. He said this change doesn't promote family values, is not in the best interest of children and it doesn't support Christian values.
Perkins said with the way the city has loosened its alcohol policy, Main Street should change its name to “Bourbon Street” or “Whiskey Street.”
Perkins also questioned the legality of the amendment. Prior to the Anheuser-Busch Clydesdales visiting Starkville, there was a request in the application that there would be beer vendors at Fire Station Park during the event. Perkins said this was in violation of the city's own ordinance.
City Attorney Chris Latimer said as the ordinance was written, it did violate the city's open container law. However, Latimer said if the city were challenged on the law, the city would argue it's allowing an exception by approving the special events policy.
Latimer said he thinks the city's special event policy should be fixed legislatively as soon as possible to allow alcohol at special events.
The type of events this ordinance would affect are events like the Cotton District Arts Festival, Pumpkinpalooza and Unwine Downtown.