Please consider the following thoughts as we approach Tuesday’s vote on legalizing the sale of alcoholic beverages in our community.

“Alcohol is a great remover. As a remover of things alcohol has no peer.  Alcohol will remove stains from clothes. But stains from clothes are not the only things alcohol will remove.  Alcohol will remove the clothes as well.   Alcohol will remove smiles from the faces of wives and mothers. Or husbands and fathers.  It will remove laughter from the lips of innocent children. Alcohol will remove heat from the home, furniture from its rooms, and food from its table.   It removes plenty and leaves poverty.  It removes fame and leaves shame.  It removes honor and leaves humiliation.  It removes self-esteem and leaves disgust.

Alcohol not only removes stains, but also creates them.  Alcohol can quickly stain a reputation. Worse, it can gradually stain and deform a character. It can mar the potential of any man or woman who indulges. And it can ultimately ruin the person caught in its deceptive snare. Alcohol can mark a man for life with its cursed stain. And it can remove from one’s experience everything, great or small, that makes life worthwhile.”  (adapted from “Alcohol as a Remover”—Christian Light Publications)

God’s Word tells us, “Who hath woe? who hath sorrow?  who hath contentions? who hath babbling?  who hath wounds without cause?  who hath redness of eyes?  They that tarry long at the wine; they that go to seek mixed wine.  Look not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright.  At the last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.”  (Proverbs 23:29-32)

We are being asked to vote to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages within the Town of Coldwater.  Why would we want to do anything that brings such danger and destruction one inch closer to our community or make it one ounce easier to obtain in Coldwater?  Much will be said about supposed financial benefits that will come to our town if we legalize the sale of alcoholic beverages.  It will also be said that we are only allowing the sale of beer and lite wine, and not hard liquor.  We know where it leads.  It will lead to more alcohol and all the negatives that come with it.  It will not help our community but rather it will lead to heartache, poverty, degradation of families, and more crime.

The people of Coldwater have a great treasure.  We have a town that is free from the sale of alcoholic beverages within her city limits.  Let’s hold on to this treasure and not give it away. I praise the Lord that He gave me the privilege to grow up in a home that never had one drop of alcoholic beverages.

Let’s do right!! Let’s do what we know is truly best for this town.  Let’s vote this Tuesday.  Let’s vote for the true welfare of Coldwater.  Let’s vote “No!” on the legalization of the sale of alcohol in Coldwater, Mississippi.