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ROBERTSON

Wine in grocery stores petition fails in Springfield

Cheri Reeves
creeves@mtcngroup.com

Springfield voters will not see the wine in grocery stores question on the November ballot.

Petitioners trying to gain support for the measure in Springfield, Cross Plains and Greenbrier did not gather enough valid signatures for the question to appear on the ballot, according to Robertson County Elections administrator Cathy Hamsley.

The filing deadline was Aug. 21. Petitions had to include signatures from 10 percent of the voters who cast ballots in the November 2010 General Election.

Hamsley said only 267 of 340 valid signatures were collected in Springfield. Greenbrier needed 105 signatures, but collected 11, and Cross Plains needed 40 and collected 23.

The town of Coopertown and the City of White House had enough valid signatures for the question to appear on the ballot.

In addition to the wine question, White House will have a retail package referendum on the ballot.

Millersville will not see the wine question on the ballot, but residents will see a retail package referendum, according to Hamsley.

“Greenbrier did gather enough signatures to put a liquor by the drink referendum on the ballot,” she said.

If the area voters show support for the November referendum, grocery stores can sell wine in cities and counties that already permit bars or liquor stores beginning in 2016.

Red, White and Food campaign manager Susie Alcorn, who was instrumental in distributing petitions, said the organization is pleased that White House and Coopertown will be able to hold the referendum.

“We knew from the beginning of the campaign that there might be eligible municipalities that didn’t meet their signature collection goals,” Alcorn said in a released statement. “We hope that Springfield residents will continue to pursue the issue if they would like to see wine in their food stores.”