NO Competition for the SLA

I thought Representative Jon Woods and his travelling companion, Jim Phillips had been keeping a pretty low profile lately. Apparently, Woods has been very busy working on declaring February 6 "Ronald Reagan Day" so he found someone else to introduce the dirty work.

Rep. Robert Dale has sponsored House Bill 1282 at the request of the Arkansas Beverage Retailers Association. Dale claims the bill is not targeted at Macadoodles, but he believes liquor stores should be locally owned.

Macadoodles had plans to open three more stores in Arkansas, but if Bill 1282, which was set to be heard this morning in a State Senate Committee passes, it will effectively stop Macadoodles from opening Arkansas franchises. However, it conveniently won't affect stores in existence from 1971 to 1993. I wonder who will benefit from that? The House of Representatives approved the bill last week with a 92-3 vote.

The always insightful State Senator Sue Madison said she has not studied the bill, but worries we will end up with a liquor store on every street corner and maybe even drive-through martini bars like they have in Louisiana.

No matter where you stand on liquor sales or consumption, this law is a bad idea. It won't rid the state of liquor sales, only assure the Springdale Liquor Cartel is allowed to continue its monopoly.