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Hyde Park rejects alcohol ordinance, but will try again By
Sarah Mulholland HYDE PARK -- After discussing the proposed amendment to the city's alcohol ordinance, the City Council agreed with Reed Elder's proposal to reject it, write another ordinance and hold another public hearing. Mayor Kooyman is looking into getting a moratorium that would not allow any alcohol in until the new ordinance is written up. One citizen commented that "alcohol is a social and community problem." He feels that if the council is willing to pass it, then they are sending a message to families that "the consumption of alcohol is all right." "Everyone is trying to throw stones at us,ö said Tracy Hoth, owner of Juniper Inn. He said when his father owned Juniper Inn, alcohol was brought in all the time. Now that he is trying to make it legal, Hoth feels like many are picking on him. He doesn't drink himself, but feels that alcohol would help his business. He feels like the people in Hyde Park are making too big a deal of it. "I think it's blown way out of promotion," Hoth said. He hopes if he isn't allowed to serve alcohol, then an ordinance will be passed that will prevent another business from moving in and selling it. Mayor Kooyman told Hoth the council is trying to be as fair as possible. "The city isn't trying to orchestrate one way or another," Kooyman said. Individual council members interpreted the public hearing two weeks ago in different ways. "I get the impression that they do not want alcohol served in Hyde Park City, period," Elder said. Bosworth would like to see more citizen input. "There was such a range of emotions and concerns ... it was certainly not clear to me,ö Bosworth said. Charles Wheeler feels the minority's voice should be heard too and that everything shouldn't be governed by the majority. "It didn't work in prohibition when they took it away from everybody,ö Wheeler said. Robert and Alan Balls would like the first half of the proposed ordinance to remain and keep Hyde Park a "dry city" as much as possible. Hendricks feels the greatest contribution to alcoholism and problems occurring due to alcohol is retailers and places people go just to drink. In other business: --The president of the Municipal Building Authority will be Alan Balls. The vice president will be Mayor Kooyman, and the members will be the rest of the council. --Logan Police Chief Richard Hendricks reported that the experience with the Olympics was positive. "It was a good experience, even better that nothing happened," he said. He would like to come and report once a month at the city council meetings. --There were 209 incidents reported in Hyde Park from January through March.There were 35 accidents, 118 citations issued, and 12 arrests. --The council approved $3,400 to fix the computer problems in the city building. They would like to just upgrade the software, but may have to buy a few new computers.
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