CORINTH, Maine — Residents in the town of Corinth are weighing in on if they want the town's ban on the sale of alcohol at stores and restaurants to remain in effect or to be overturned.
"My recommendation to the board was to allow the citizens to vote on these four questions again. They haven't been voted on since 1969 or 1972, so many years have passed," Corinth Town Manager Stephen Fields said.
Four questions on Tuesday's ballot will determine if liquor, beer, and wine can be sold at restaurants and stores, and whether they can be sold at those locations seven days a week or every day except Sunday.
Residents currently have to go to surrounding towns to buy alcohol.
"Depending on where they're coming from they will usually hit Kenduskeag, Exeter, [and] Bradford," Fields said.
As a town with less than 3,000 residents, some said they think it's safer to keep the alcohol out.
"That's why we stayed here, that's why we just bought a house here, to have our family raised here," Devan Philbrick, a lifelong resident of Corinth, said.
Philbrick said he hopes the ban on alcohol stays in place in Corinth because if bars were to open in town, it could create a potentially unsafe environment in their quiet community.
"A lot of people are moving back because, it's just to get out of the hustle and bustle of everyday life in the city in these areas that do have bars," Philbrick said.
Debbie Burke recently bought the Countryside Restaurant in Corinth with her two daughters. She said she's hopeful Corinth residents vote in favor of the sale of alcohol so she can start serving drinks to her patrons.
"We're not going to be a bar, we don't ever intend on being a bar, we're a restaurant that wants to serve a drink with your dinner," Burke said.
Burke argued if residents are going elsewhere to buy alcohol anyway, they might as well keep that money and business in town.
"If it's going to help my business succeed in today's economy, honestly, I have to do what's right for me and my family and the residents of this town," Burke said.
"It'll be interesting to see how the vote turns out today," Fields said.
All sides agree: if you want your voice heard, get out and vote.