Were there shenanigans involved

in Fayetteville's liquor referendum?

A group of local residents

thinks so.

After two months of discussion

on the city's liquor ordinance, the small group of residents protested

the City Council's decision to vote Monday on the issue, saying there

is a possibility there was fraudulent election activity.

Two residents addressed the

council and referred to a November article in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution,

published the week after the Nov. 7 liquor referendum passed.

In the article, local businessman

Lane Brown, who campaigned openly for the referendum to pass, was quoted

as saying he encouraged voters to cast absentee ballots in the city election

so they would not have the inconvenience of voting in two locations that

day.

The liquor referendum was conducted

the same day as the General Election, and city residents had to cast their

city votes at The Depot while going to their regular county polling places

to vote for local and national candidates.

Voters requesting absentee

ballots must certify that they meet the criteria for absentee voting,

such as being unable to travel to the polls on Election Day or being over

the age of 65. Casting an absentee ballot otherwise would constitute election

fraud.

One Fayetteville resident said

that he was concerned over the City Council's apparent desire to go ahead

and vote on the ordinance when the possibility of this type of activity

exists.

Another resident, holding a

list of what she said were absentee voters, accused the council of "putting

blinders on" and ignoring this issue.

Monday night's meeting was

the first time this issue had been raised at a council meeting since the

election.

Council members responded quickly,

saying that they were following the law as their offices required, regardless

of whether they liked the idea of a liquor ordinance in Fayetteville.

Mayor Kenneth Steele said that

the county is authorized by the city to conduct the election, and the

city has no reason to suspect fraud.

The statute of limitations

for filing a complaint such as this is five days, according to City Clerk

Judy Stephens, and she said that her office has received no complaints

at all about this election.

"You need to go through

the proper legal channels" to pursue this matter, Councilman Bill

Talley told the audience members, saying that the council has legal requirements

it must follow.

Councilman Larry Dell, responding

to the allegations that the council was ignoring the issue, said that

the ordinance had been studied for 60 days since the November elections,

including public discussions at several council meetings, and this was

the first time this type of protest had been heard.

Various council members have

made it known during the past two months that they were not in favor of

legalizing liquor by the drink in Fayetteville, but the referendum was

passed and their legal duty is to honor the wishes of the voters.

"I voted against it,"

said Walt White, elected mayor pro tempore at the beginning of Monday's

meeting. "But it's the law, and if it's done the right way, we have

to pass it."

There was no public comment

about the ordinance itself before it passed 4-0.