What seems to be a trend in the region – a decision by residents on the legal sale of alcoholic beverages – is quickly on its way to becoming a decision that voters in Clinton County may have the opportunity to make.

Recently, Cumberland County and Metcalfe County voted for the sale of alcohol within their county borders. The “wet” vote has also surfaced in Monroe County with a petition to first only sell alcohol within the city limits of Tompkinsville, but now has been changed to a county wide vote.

Shortly after the vote passed in Cumberland County, local business owner Jim Soma began circulating a petition in Clinton County, which is the first step in getting the issue to reach registered voters across the county.

As of right now, Soma has collected around 350 names in the past three weeks and more and more names appear on the petition every day it’s in circulation.

Clinton County Clerk Shelia Booher told the Clinton County News that in order to force the sale of alcohol issue to a vote, the petition must contain the signature of at least 25 percent of the number of voters who cast votes in the most recent general election

Booher said in the November, 2015 general election, there were 2,058 voters who cast ballots, making the number of signatures needed on a petition 515. In all, there are 7,417 people registered to vote in Clinton County.

On the petition, each voter has to print their name, date of birth and address along with a signature according to Clinton County Clerk Shelia Booher.

The petition can be in the public for six months. Once the 515 names required are obtained, the petition is filed and all the names have to be verified as registered voters in Clinton County.

Then the petition then needs to be certified by the county judge and turned back over to the county clerk.

The county judge/executive will then set a date as to when the wet issue will be voted on.

According to Booher, the election can’t be in conjunction with a general election and the election can’t be held any sooner than 30 days, or later than 90 days, after the petition has been certified.

Soma said the issue to vote “wet” isn’t about politics or religion. It’s about county growth.

“I know a lot of people don’t see it as a business issue. With Cumberland County going wet, we are losing business,” Soma said. “We haven’t grown in the past four or five years. As far Equity Group goes and as far as my business goes, a lot of people are staying in Cookeville just because they want to have a drink. This is not available here. Because the roads are much better now, they are going to Cookeville and we are losing a lot of business here.”

Soma said it can be hard for some people who live here to see the potential for growth because their income isn’t based on county business.

“A lot of people either work for the state government or local government,” Soma said. “The reason this is happening is because we want to see our business grow. Economy is standing still or it’s going down hill. Our children are moving out of town because we don’t have anything to offer here. Our infrastructure is not here yet.”

Soma has been a part of various organizations that deal with the growth of Clinton County, including the Albany/Clinton County Chamber of Commerce, the Industrial Development Authority, and he sits on the Albany/Clinton County Tourism Board.

“As a part of the IDA, we have tried to get so many different industries here. We have written letters to them and one of the things they are saying is we don’t have the infrastructure set. Some of the things they look at are the roads, which we are getting there on that, they look at the school system, and they also look at how our community is growing. One of the criteria for the big business is they want to see the county wet.”

Soma gave an example using Russell County. In the previous months, Russell County has also voted wet in Jamestown. Soma says the reason for this is to try and draw Toyota in and build a plant in their county.

“That was one of their conditions. If they go wet then they might have a shot at having a Toyota plant to go in their county,” Soma said. “It’s not about politics and it’s not about religion … it’s simply about growth in our economy. I’ve been here 32 years. If you look at my background, I’ve always tried to improve our home. I’ve donated a lot of time. I’ve helped build a lot of buildings in the county. I’m not here to destroy our little town, I’m here to improve it.”

Soma also believes having alcohol sales within the county will make our roads safer.

“What’s going to happen to Hwy. 90 now? You are going to see a lot of accidents if we don’t go wet,” Soma said. “You are going to see a lot of people go over there and by the time they come back they are already drinking in the car. I’m sitting on Hwy. 90 and I’m going to see a lot of accidents and I’m afraid of that. We have to look at that point of view. It’s like hiding a toy from a child. If you hide a toy from a child then that’s the toy they want.”

Soma believes the county needs to grow and be safe about it.

“Nothing in the religious world says a glass of wine is bad for you,” Soma said. “Excessive drinking is bad for you. I don’t believe in that. In order to grow, we need to work together on this.”

Soma said petitions are out at some of the convenient stores in Albany, as well as the docks on both Lake Cumberland and Dale Hollow.

“The petitions are out there to sign,” Soma said. “Whether you are using it to cook with or using it to drink, most of us here are using alcohol. Why not have the alcohol here where we can control it, monitor it carefully, and get tax dollars out of this. I think, personally, from the knowledge I’ve obtained, Somerset, from the first six months averaged $600,000 in tax dollars. Russell Springs has had around $10,000 to $12,000 per month. I’m predicting between seven to $10,000 here. That would generate about $100,000 per year. Why give it to another county?”

Soma said they advised him at the County Clerk’s office to obtain a minimum of 600 names then file the petition. Once the petition is filed, there has to be a vote within the next three months.

The petition can stay out in the public for as long as needed in order to obtain the 600 names.

Once the petition has been filed and a vote date is set, a special election will be held where citizens can cast their vote either for or against making Clinton County a wet county.

“I really want to do this for the growth,” Soma said. “No company is going to move here. We are sitting on a gold mine with the two lakes. Lake Cumberland pulls around 3.2 million people and Dale Hollow pulls about 2.5 million people and we are sitting right between the two lakes and we haven’t done anything.”

In order to grow, Clinton County has to pull those tourist into our county so they will use our service stations, eat at our restaurants, and the whole community can benefit according to Soma.

“We are losing so much income from this,” Soma said. “They have to have a reason to pull them up here and this is one of the reasons. This is just the start and I hope we can do more than just the alcohol. I have a lot of support from the business sector and other support as well. If we don’t pull together, we will be shutting a lot of doors here.”