Students back Sunday alcohol sales

     The passing of a referendum on Sunday alcohol sales last week in Atlanta came with little surprise to many Georgia State students.

      The Nov. 8 vote, which carried more than 80 percent of the vote, lifted a previous ban that prevented retail vendors from selling alcoholic beverages on Sundays.

       The law preventing Sunday alcohol sales, except in restaurants, was a quintessential example of so-called "blue laws," or laws meant to enforce religious standards, according to Jenny Nesvetailova, a junior at Georgia State.

        "Allowing alcohol to be sold on Sunday creates a separation between church and state, which should have been there all along," Nesvetailova said.

       She said she did not mind buying her wine a day early but felt the principle behind the fact should be addressed.

Other students agreed but on

separate points. "I'm all in favor of being able to buy alcohol on Sundays," explained Stephanie Swanson, a senior at Georgia State. "Especially if I want to have a fun picnic at Piedmont Park."

      Despite local support inside metro Atlanta, the vote attracted major opposition from some religious figures and rural areas.

For instance, the Georgia Christian Coalition opposed the vote, claiming that allowing Sun- day alcohol sales would undignify the Sabbath.

       The city of Atlanta can expect to start buying alcohol on Jan. 1 of next year. The city of Duluth will actually be able to purchase booze on Nov. 19th.

         Statewide, the vote passed in over 110 cities and counties with only a few outliers in rural counties opposing, including Albany, Americus, Brunswick, Fort Oglethorpe, Waycross and Whit- field County.

Georgia was one of three states in the United States that still banned alcohol sales on Sun- days, a law that had been around since the early 1800s.