Driggs Mayor wants to update liquor laws
Mayor Hyrum Johnson of Driggs is trying to urge lawmakers to pass a bill that would allow all resort city food establishments to sell liquor.
Century-old liquor laws keep the majority of them from selling hard liquor. The mayor and others who own restaurants say the bill needs to pass in order to keep up with the times and be fair.
Johnson says the worst part is that the State’s law actually puts more drunk drivers on the roads.
“There are a lot of different coalitions…or mindsets in the state and in the legislature,” says Johnson. “There are those who just oppose liquor alcohol in any form…and there is a fair number of them who believe because they choose not to drink…that nobody should drink.”
After years of working on a bill, Johnson and others plan to present a bill to the legislature that he believes would solve the issue for Driggs and other resort cities in the Gem State.
“We’re asking that a few additional restaurants be allowed to…the high end…high dollar restaurants that service the tourist community be allowed to add liquor to their menus as well,” says Johnson. “It’s a question of fairness. It’s a question of being able to present to the traveler the experience that they’re looking for.”
Stewart Chisholm says, if you want to get technical, the bill about to be presented doesn’t make it fair because the requirements aren’t the same.
“There’s a maximum of three drinks and you have to choose the right menu item in order to get it,” says Chisholm. “So if somebody doesn’t want the right thing and they just want a salad and they can’t get a drink. That’s a very strange thing to explain to your table.”
She believes if a bill is going to be passed it shouldn’t be this one.
“Make it so it makes sense. And not so many loopholes and it doesn’t need to be this hard on lobbyists or anything like this in order to push whatever their agenda is.”
The plan is to present the bill to the legislature in the next few weeks. If it passes it could benefit cities like Victor, Salmon, and Ketchum.
Wyoming, Montana, and Utah have all updated liquor laws from previous eras.
