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The issue of liquor by the drink and ABC stores now rests in the hands of Stokesdale voters.

After nearly two hours of public comment, the Stokesdale Town Council voted 3 to 2 to adopt resolutions to put liquor by the drink and ABC stores on the November ballot.

“This time (the referendum) can go this ballot, if we would have passed it in November, we would have had to have a special election at an additional cost to the town,” Mayor Randle L. Jones said.

Because the coming election is not a presidential one, the alcohol referendums can be placed on this ballot without any additional cost, he said.

Stokesdale entrepreneur and developer Worth Mitchell is happy that the vote came out the way it did.

“It allows good quality restaurants to come in and offer good paying jobs to stimulate the local economy,” he said.

The council voted 3 to 2 last November against having a special called election to vote on liquor by the drink and ABC stores. In that vote, Councilwoman Cheryl Steele and Councilman Norman Cook were the two votes in favor of having the special election to allow the voters to decided on liquor by the drink.

In Thursday’s meeting, Cook voted to keep liquor by the drink and ABC stores referendums off the November ballot.

“I don’t understand why this is being brought up again at this time. We just had this five months ago,” Cook said.

“I don’t feel like five people should even be discussing this to start with.”

In last November’s meeting, Jones informed the attendees that the referendums could still be brought to a vote if a petition collected the signatures of 35 percent of Stokesdale’s registered voters. That number was estimated to be a little more than 9,000 residents.

In the June meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Mickie Holbrook asked the council to revisit the referendums.

“I felt like I made a mistake before,” Holbrook said in Thursday’s meeting.

“A lot of people didn’t want the Food Lion, but two of my children got jobs there.”

Jobs are important for Stokesdale to move forward and the adoption of these referendums can bring in jobs that will employ local residents, she said.

“And everyone has an American vote and I feel like we need to give everybody a right to vote yes or no.”

Contact Tiffany S. Jones at 373-7157 or tiffany.jones@news-record.com