County Commission Rejects Resolution Allowing Alcohol in Parks

There will be no alcohol served in Hamilton county parks—at least not anytime soon.
County commissioners had a week to think about it, and today they quickly settled the issue.

The county is turning away events like reunions and wedding receptions at its parks because beer and wine cannot be served, according to county Director of General Services Lee Norris.
At last week’s meeting he explained that such alcohol sales would need a permit, and it would be tightly controlled.
This week it came to a vote and Commissioner Joe Graham made the motion to approve that resolution—he got only silence.

COMMISSIONER JOE GRAHAM, DISTRICT 6  “You know what..I’m never surprised. I’m never surprised…it’s a..I made the motion so we could have an opportunity for a thorough discussion…and obviously my colleagues didn’t see a need to have a discussion. ”

Commissioner Greg Beck wondered out loud during the original discussion, if the county was putting families and children in jeopardy by allowing alcohol into parks like Chester Frost and River Park.

COMMISSIONER GREG BECK, DISTRICT 5  “There was an argument..or rather a discussion about people slipping alcoholic beverages in anyway…and so therefore its seems like the thought was..that we should go ahead an allow it.”

Lee Norris says such a rule could actually give county officers more leverage to enforce the “no alcohol” rule.
Graham thought it was worth talking about.

COMMISSIONER JOE GRAHAM “Obviously the Mayor and his staff thought it was a good idea or they wouldn’t have put it on our agenda. And they were asking us to have a discussion and we failed.”

COMMISSIONER BECK  “We’ve moved to the point to where they can have guns in parks..and people will be having alcohol beverages as well…I don’t know, it seems like that would be a dangerous recipe.”

Commissioner Beck says he wonders if it’s really possible to keep the groups who’re serving alcohol completely separate from others using the parks.