Voters in unincorporated

Coweta County will head to the polls later this year to decide if they

want a cocktail with their dinner.

Tuesday night, the Coweta County Commission decided to let the voters

make the decision on liquor in the unincorporated county.

Newnan currently

allows mixed drinks at restaurants that have at least 50 percent of their

sales in food. Commission chairman Leigh Schlumper, who led the referendum

drive, said she would like the county's ordinance to mirror Newnan's.

In 1997, voters

in the county voted down a liquor by the drink referendum, but Schlumper

said the demographics in the county have changed dramatically in the last

six year.

Commissioner

Vernon "Mutt" Hunter, who voted against the referendum, said

there were other ways to get the item on the ballot, such as people gathering

35 percent of the registered voters signatures to put it up for a vote.

Resident Brant

Frost asked the board to table the issue, since it had come up so quickly,

and warned of dire consequences if the issue was approved by the voters.

"Any income

from liquor is expensive. It puts our families and children at risk,"

he said.

Commissioner

Robert Wood, who supported the issue, rebuffed arguments that drinking

was immoral and said "grown-up adults should be able to make their

own decisions."

Newly elected

Commissioner Greg Tarbutton, who says he frequents some of the restaurants

in Newnan that serve liquor, voted against the referendum because an overwhelming

majority of calls he'd received were against the idea.

"I was

elected to serve the people in my district and that's their opinion,"

he said.

The county's

other new commissioner, Larry DeMoss, sided with the majority and said

he believed the people had a right to vote on the issue.

The county

has not set a date for the referendum.