Jim Hamilton, owner of Hammy’s Spirits, was unhappy with how information was presented to Coffee With Council attendees. “I was disgusted. First off, he (Staff Sgt. Cameron Chisholm) has no stats to say whether or not there are more Check Stops.”
Coun. John Jacobs feels one of the issues stem from selling or serving liquor to a person who is already intoxicated.
He suggests it is better that police “find the person that sold the alcohol to the person that they could obviously see was intoxicated already…To me that would be the real deterrent.”
Chisholm responded by saying it is difficult to prove over-serving occurred in a licenced establishment but checks have risen. “Over the last year there has been an increase in our licenced premise checks and there has been an increase in reporting to the AGLC.”
Chad Jones, owner of The Liquor Store, does not feel Ponoka should be compared to Wetaskiwin. He also would like to see a comparison of the number of Check Stops with other communities as well.
A major issue he sees in the proposed bylaw is with liquor delivery because he delivers to the Ponoka Stampede after 10 p.m. during concert nights. “It’s a security issue because then I have to load them up huge.”
Mayor Larry Henkelman appreciated the turnout of residents and businesspeople. “I was really happy of the stats that Cameron worked on because we didn’t have those stats. There’s some of those figures that we’re not allowed to see.”
The purpose of first reading of the bylaw and meetings such as this is to enable councillors to hear from businesses and individuals concerning the bylaw, he said. Henkelman feels it can help councillors make amendments to the bylaw as well. “We could tweak our bylaw to say, ‘Stampede time, we allow deliveries for this special event.”
He understands business owners’ concerns, especially if the bylaw would affect their sales. “Sometimes we have to weigh the economics of it as to the safety of the community.”
Rieley Kay, owner of Cilantro and Chive restaurant, feels the forum was handled well. “I think there was a lot of information brought up that is very important to the community.”
The proposed bylaw would affect his catering business as he relies on delivery of liquor after 10 p.m. It raised security concerns for him to have additional liquor on site rather than ordering more as needed, he said. There is also the question of what happens to those who want to buy liquor later in the evening.
“I don’t know what the demographics are…But when there is more out of town people coming in, where are they going to get their product?” Kay asked. He feels the problem will shift to another community.
Coun. Izak van der Westhuizen feels the statistics were interesting. “Further discussion is needed. I don’t think any conclusion will be reached anytime soon.
