Add West Point to the growing list of cities with Sunday alcohol sales.
Mayor Scott Ross read a letter from the Mississippi Tax Commission at Tuesday”s meeting of the West Point Board of Selectmen announcing the commission had “reconsidered” the city”s 2008 request for Sunday sales. On-site vendors, but not package stores, may now sell alcohol between the hours of 10 a.m.-midnight on Sundays.
“The makeup of the (tax commission) board has changed (since the July 2008 denial),” said Ross, theorizing the reasoning behind the reversal, which makes West Point the third Golden Triangle city to allow liquor sales on Sunday.
The letter from the commission specifically mentioned recent decisions to allow Sunday sales in Columbus and Starkville.
The decision renders moot a recent request by the Ritz Cafe and Conference Center in downtown West Point for resort status to allow Sunday alcohol sales. While the resort status also allows the business to sell alcohol outside of designated hours, owners requested the status to serve alcohol on Sunday.
“This just came out of left field,” said Milton Sundbeck, owner of The Ritz. “I didn”t know they had made that application a long time ago.”
Sundbeck received a call from Ross Saturday notifying him of the commission”s decision. He says The Ritz will begin selling alcohol this Sunday.
He maintains The Ritz”s primary motivation for requesting resort status was to serve alcohol at Sunday events such as wedding receptions, but he anticipates The Ritz will sell a mimosa or two during lunch.
“We would have loved to have had a Super Bowl party (Sunday),” he said.
Sundbeck had considered withdrawing his request for resort status because of public disapproval that followed City Hall”s expansion of the original request from being site-specific to The Ritz to including all of downtown West Point. The request was later restored to include only The Ritz.
“I”m anxious to see how the community reacts,” said Sundbeck.
Jason Browne was previously a reporter for The Dispatch.
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