Columbus City Council knotted on a vote to allow beer sales at the annual Juneteenth festival this summer during its Tuesday evening meeting.
Mayor Robert Smith also raised the matter during the general comments portion of the meeting, saying he received a request for beer sales from event organizer Cindy Lawrence. The event is held each year at Sim Scott Park.
Smith broke a tie in favor of beer sales after the council tied, with Joseph Mickens, Charlie Box and Marty Turner of wards 2, 3 and 4, respectively, opposing. Gene Taylor, Stephen Jones and Bill Gavin of Wards 1, 5 and 6, respectively, voted in favor of the matter.
Mickens, after the meeting, told The Dispatch he voted in keeping with his stance on the beer sales in recent years.
“I have never voted for it,” Mickens said. “It’s nothing to do with Juneteenth and nothing against Juneteenth. It’s just a stance.
“It’s a park,” Mickens said. “We have kids in the park. It wasn’t designed for that.”
Smith, who has had to use his tiebreaker power on the matter in previous years, said he thinks the sales are fine for the event.
“It’s a great event,” Smith said. “It’s well attended and we haven’t had any problems since we’ve had it out there.”
Juneteenth commemorates “Emancipation Day,” an event on June 19, 1865, when Union soldiers arrived in Galveston, Texas, with news that the Civil War — and in effect, slavery — had ended. This will be the 21st year for the local Juneteenth event.
CPD motorcycle
In other business, councilmen unanimously voted to lend an unused police department motorcycle to the Lowndes County Sheriff’s Office.
Smith also raised that issue to the council during the general comments portion of the meeting. He said CPD currently has three motorcycles, but they aren’t being used.
Police Chief Oscar Lewis said he’s planning to restart the city’s motorcycle force, but he does not need the third bike in the immediate future.
“I plan to have our bikes back in service here within the next six months,” Lewis said. “I didn’t want to go through the process of having them purchase it so they can use it, and then try to get it back. I only plan on using having two officers ride them, but that other bike was just was just an extra bike.”
Smith and Lewis noted, in response to a question from Turner, that the CPD decals on the bikes can be removed and replaced with LSCO decals while the sheriff’s office is using the bikes.
“They’re trying to use them for PR for the sheriff’s department — take them to schools and different things like that,” Lewis said.
Smith said the county will pay for the costs of the motorcycle while using it.
“They (LCSO) will keep the maintenance and upkeep on the motorcycle,” Smith said. “Once the chief decides he wants to get the two officers certified and he sees a need for the third one in a year, two years from now, all he has to do is call and tell them in advance we need the third bike.”
In other business, the council:
■ hired one entry-level firefighter;
■ hired one certified police officer and three entry-level police officers;
■ approved a Rails to Trails grant application; and
■ approved using $1,500 from the city advertising budget to support the Suzuki Strings’ group fundraising efforts for a trip to perform at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Alex Holloway was formerly a reporter with The Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.