Liquor hasn’t produced more DUIs, or more local business
Two years after liquor by the drink was legalized in McMinnville, the result has been neither gloom and doom, nor an invigorated local economy as predicted by the opponents and proponents of liquor.
Only three establishments have taken advantage of liquor by the drink as Applebee’s, Fiesta Ranchera and La Cazona own the only liquor licenses two years after legal liquor passed in 2002.
The main concern of the anti-liquor group, an increase in drunk drivers, has not been seen by lawmen as officers report drunk driving arrests continue to dip.
“Actually, the drunk driving rate doesn’t even compare to what it was a decade ago,” said McMinnville Police Capt. Bryan Denton. “We are seeing fewer drunk driving arrests due to a variety of reasons.”
According to city numbers for McMinnville, there were 73 DUI arrests in 2003, a small portion of the 27,028 drunk driving arrests made statewide last year. The local number is down from 2001, the last full year before liquor was passed, when there were 117 DUI arrests in the city.
Tracking the DUI rate further back, Denton said there were 122 DUI arrests in 1999, a number still low when compared with the decade of the 1980s when the year 1983 saw 235 drunk driving arrests in the city alone.
“There are a lot of reasons for the decline in drunk driving arrests, one of which is education,” Denton said. “There’s a lot of education about the dangers of drunk driving taught in school and through the DARE program, plus we see a lot of commercials on television reminding people of the dangers. It’s also become popular to have a designated driver.”
Denton noted stiffer laws requiring mandatory jail time and loss of driver’s license have cut down on drunk drivers. The legal limit has also dropped to .08, leaving a smaller window for error for people who drink and get behind the wheel.
Denton noted the DUI arrest rate has dropped despite an aggressive traffic enforcement campaign by city officers where the number of citations for moving violations has doubled in a year’s time. Denton said the traffic campaign is being held in hopes of making the streets of McMinnville safer.
As for the economic impact, La Cazona is the only liquor-related business to locate here since passing liquor. Red Lobster and O’Charley’s officials have said in recent months there are no plans to locate those restaurants here in the near future. Liquor-by-the-drink supporters claimed before the referendum that voting in liquor would result in those restaurants, or others like them, coming to McMinnville.
As a side shoot of approving liquor by the drink, establishments are now able to sell beer until 3 a.m. and on Sundays. Most businesses report a slight upturn in their beer sales due to the increased hours. Prior to the change, beer sales ceased at midnight and were not permitted on Sundays.