Granite Quarry voters approve mixed-drink sales by wide margin
Published 12:00 am Wednesday, September 19, 2012
By Mark Wineka
mwineka@salisburypost.com
GRANITE QUARRY – By a three-to-one margin, Granite Quarry voters ushered in mixed-drink sales Tuesday.
Voters approved mixed beverage sales with 199 voting “for” and 61 “against.” On a rainy special election day, only 12.6 percent of Granite Quarry’s 2,059 registered voters cast ballots, including 34 who either voted early or by absentee before Tuesday.
The vote is good news for owners of El Acapulco Mexican Restaurant on North Salisbury Avenue. Jeff and Roberta Stogner had requested the liquor-by-the-drink vote and even put up $1,800 toward the costs of the election.
“It means a lot,” Jeff Stogner said. “It’s going to pick it up and bring business back to Granite Quarry, not Salisbury. And hopefully we’ll be here for a long time to come.”
The Stogners said they lost business to Salisbury because some customers wanted margaritas with their Mexican food.
Jeff Stogner said he was “very surprised” by the winning margin.
“I thought it would be closer than that,” he said.
Granite Quarry had voted down liquor-by-the-drink sales in a similar scenario in 2004 by a 196-157 margin.
Granite Quarry will become the seventh municipality in Rowan County with mixed-beverage sales, joining Salisbury, East Spencer, Kannapolis, Spencer, China Grove and Landis.
Landis was the last Rowan town to approve liquor by the drink in May 2008.
Terry Osborne, general manager for the Rowan/Kannapolis Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, estimated Tuesday it would take about a month before establishments could start selling mixed drinks in Granite Quarry.
The certified vote results must go to the ABC Commission in Raleigh, followed by notification to the town and application by businesses who want to sell liquor by the drink.
Granite Quarry Mayor Mary S. Ponds said Tuesday night, “I have no problem with it because it’s what the people want.
“… It’s only right that we as a board support that.”
Ponds added that Granite Quarry residents as an electorate are knowledgeable about the things they’re voting on.
Stogner said his restaurant was low-key in its approach to promoting a “for” vote on the referendum. The owners discussed it with customers and supported it on their website, he said.
Stogner, who owns an exterminating business in Morganton and leaves much of the operation of the restaurant to his wife, said he asked her Tuesday morning whether she would want to move the restaurant should the vote be against mixed-drink sales.
Roberta Stogner told him no matter what the vote, she planned to stay in Granite Quarry.
“She likes the people here and wanted to stay here,” Stogner said.
Contact Mark Wineka at 704-797-4263.