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Brunch Bill Coming To Marshall County Ballots

MOUNDSVILLE — Residents will decide in November whether Marshall County restaurants can serve alcohol on Sunday mornings, county commissioners voted Tuesday.

Tuesday’s vote was in response to the so-called “brunch bill” approved by the West Virginia Legislature earlier this year, allowing individual counties to decide by referendum whether to allow establishments to serve alcohol as early as 10 a.m. on Sundays, while state law currently forbids the practice before 1 p.m.

In a brief meeting Tuesday morning, commissioners heard from Wayne Hardy, a representative from the Buffalo Wild Wings in Moundsville, which expressed interest in expanding the hours alcohol could be purchased from restaurants on a Sunday.

“Buffalo Wild Wings would definitely be in favor of this going forward,” Hardy said on behalf of the store manager. “Tomorrow, we would have the paperwork filled out and returned to the office.”

If voters approve the initiative, alcohol sales from stores will still be required to wait until 1 p.m. on Sundays.

Commissioners Scott Varner and Stan Stewart emphasized that the only action taken Tuesday was to place the issue on the ballot. Following the meeting, Stewart said he feels the matter should remain in the hands of voters, rather than through government action.

“Our interest is to let the voters determine what direction they want to take with it, rather than let it be mandated by the state or the county,” Stewart said.

“County by county, it needs to be approved by the voters,” Commissioner Bob Miller added. “Personally, I have no problem with it — it’s three hours. I’m probably never going to take advantage of it, but in the interest of promoting tourism, a lot of people enjoy a beverage before noon on Sunday, so this will go on to help tourism in general.”

Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed Senate Bill 298 into law earlier this summer, permitting 10 a.m. service of alcohol at restaurants, private clubs and wineries if voters in individual counties approve.

In other business, commissioners also heard from Christine Smith, a representative of the Northern Panhandle Workplace Development Board, who noted an increase in the number of people utilizing the group’s services in the past year.

Particularly, Smith pointed out an increase in employees attending informational sessions after being laid off, 104 in the last year.

Three out of the five locations where layoffs were most common were coal mines.

Additionally, Smith pointed out higher number of youth workers with the board, which reached 49 people across the six counties serviced.

“Most of the worksites really enjoy getting the labor from the youth,” Smith said. “The program was a success. We had no major injuries and a few of the worksites even hired on the youths again this year.”

The youths involved in Marshall County were employed at the Marshall County School bus garage and at John Marshall High School.

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