A visit from Sheriff Cal Henderson tips the vote back in favor for allowing the sale of alcohol at 11 a.m. on Sundays.
By BILL VARIAN
Published December 10, 2003
TAMPA - Residents in unincorporated Hillsborough County will still be able to buy a drink before noon on Sundays now that the sheriff has put one commissioner's mind at ease about it.
Hillsborough commissioners had voted 4-3 to relax its so-called blue law in August, following the lead of the cities of St. Petersburg and Tampa. The change pushed back the time at which bars and stores could sell alcohol on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 11 a.m.
But commissioner Jan Platt got cold feet about the change last month when Sgt. Steven Wallace of the Sheriff's Office appeared before the board. Wallace presented commissioners with statistics showing a 21 percent increase in alcohol-related deaths in the county from 2000-2002, asking commissioners why they would want to do something that could make it worse.
Faced with those statistics, Platt flopped, tipping the majority of the board against the blue-law rollback.
However, as Wallace mentioned last month, he wasn't representing his boss, Sheriff Cal Henderson, but rather groups that fight drunken driving and alcohol abuse. Henderson spoke to the board Tuesday and said he had no problem with earlier alcohol sales.
Henderson showed that driving under the influence arrests are actually down this year compared to last. He later acknowledged that those numbers might not reflect how many people are driving drunk. But he said the problem with drunken driving is worse at night and in the early morning hours.
In fact, his deputies have made only two DUI arrests from the hours 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. since the law was changed Aug. 3, the same number for the same period last year. In the past 101/2 months, there have been eight DUI arrests during those hours.
"I just think those two hours are not going to make a difference," Henderson said after addressing commissioners. "It doesn't make sense to punish the retailers in unincorporated Hillsborough County unless you're accomplishing something."
With the presentation of those figures, Platt moved to cancel a proposed public hearing to consider a repeal of the relaxation of the blue law. It passed 3-2, with commissioners Tom Scott and Ken Hagan voting no. Commissioners Jim Norman and Ronda Storms were absent, but because they were split on previous votes, their presence would not have made a difference in the outcome.
"That deputy has painted a picture of gloom and doom. But the sheriff said that wasn't the case," Platt said, explaining her second change of heart.
