It seems certain now that liquor

"The signatures have been

verified... we have enough," said Lane Brown, a local Realtor who

has been working for two years to get the issue on the ballot.

It will be on the General Election

ballot Nov. 7, he said.

City Council will vote Monday

on whether to put the issue on the ballot, a formality. State law requires

placing it on the ballot upon presentation of a petition with 35 percent

of the city's registered voters calling for it.

The U.S. Department of Justice

must approve the petition, but that's also usually a formality, Brown

said.

"As far as I'm concerned,

it's on the ballot," he said.

Brown's target number was 1,755,

he said, and although some signatures were disqualified because the people

had died or moved away, he still ended up with 1,772 qualified signatures,

Brown said, out of 1,843 total.

The challenge now, Brown said,

is to get the word out and convince many city residents to drive to two

separate polling places to cast their votes on the issue.

"Many city people go to

county precincts to vote," he said, "but it's state law that

you can't vote on a city issue out in the county. I tried to fight that,

but that's just the way it is," he said.

To vote on the liquor issue,

residents who vote in polling places outside the city will have to vote

separately on liquor at The Depot on East Lanier Avenue.

"It's going to be cumbersome,"

said Brown.

He and supporters will be advertising,

making phone calls and sending out letters to try and drum up support,

he said.

Last year, when it appeared

Brown might have enough signatures to force a vote on liquor, opposition

surfaced from residents who said legalizing liquor would detract from

the family atmosphere in Fayetteville, and he said he is expecting a battle

now that a vote is scheduled.

"So be it," he said.

"I just hope that more people get out that want it than don't want

it. "We're going to get organized too," he said.

"Those who are for it

are promoting more restaurants," he said. "I'm trying not to

make it a moral issue."

If a majority approve, it will

become legal in Fayetteville to sell liquor by the drink in restaurants,

but not by the bottle in package stores.