Zachary Siegel
senior from
Defiance, Mo.
I liked the dialogue that was presented this last week in The Murray State News about the sale of alcohol within the city limits. The primary argument against Grow Murray appears to be the “threat” of increased DUIs.
I think that these baseless claims really need to be looked at, which is why I have taken the liberty of finding an article published in The Southwest Journal of Criminal Justice Volume 8 Issue 1 titled The Transition of a Texas County from “Dry” to “Wet” and a Comparison of DWI Arrest Rates Before and After.
This is a study which was conducted at Austin State University regarding Angelina County. I chose this article because Angelina County is very similar to Murray. It allowed alcohol sales at restaurants prior to becoming a fully “wet” county and the nearest location to purchase packaged alcohol was only 10 to 15 minutes away. In this study there was no evidence that changing from a “moist” county to a “wet” county has any effect on cases of DUI. Anyone can claim anything, but actual evidence is clearly on the side of Grow Murray. This article is available with a quick search on Google.
There are many other articles which support these findings, but this was such a good analog for Murray that it deserves to be highlighted.