Tensions flare in South Carolina State House over proposal to allow liquor sales on Sunday
COLUMBIA — A proposal to allow expanded Sunday liquor sales in 10 tourist-heavy S.C. counties sparked a tense debate Thursday between evangelicals and a state lawmaker who called them hypocrites.
“Judge not, (lest) ye be judged,” said House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, D-Richland, quoting the Bible as he began a minutes-long, heated response to a Republican lawmaker who said South Carolinians don’t want to see customers entering liquor stores as they drive home from church.
The proposal by state Rep. Gary Clary, R-Pickens, would allow stores to sell liquor on Sunday in 10 counties, as long as local leaders or county voters approve the expanded sales. The 10 counties are Beaufort, Charleston, Florence, Georgetown, Greenville, Horry, Lexington, Richland, Spartanburg and York.
A House Judiciary Committee panel passed the proposal to allow expanded sales after nearly an hour of debate in which state Rep. John McCravy, R-Greenwood, and S.C. Baptist Convention representative Joe Mack decried liquor as a danger to public health and safety.
Read more: https://www.independentmail.com/story/news/2019/01/31/sunday-liquor-sales-debate-sparks-tension-south-carolina-legislature/2733185002/