Two and a half hours due south of Kansas City sits Baxter Springs, Kansas (pop. 4,221), the largest city in Cherokee County. There, Richard and Amy Sanell run a bed and breakfast and a restaurant called Cafe on the Route. (1101 Military Avenue, 620-856-5646.)
Former residents of Kansas City (Richard was a chef at the Metropolis American Grille in Westport), the couple was looking to open a bed and breakfast somewhere in the general area of the Midwest. "We looked at places in Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa before coming down to Baxter Springs and falling in love with the building," Richard said. "I thought I did all my homework but I didn't."
Shortly after they opened 11 years ago they learned they couldn't sell wine with dinners. Or beer or any other alcoholic spirit. Cherokee County is a dry county. It only allows the sale of alcohol by the glass at private clubs. Club membership costs $10 and has a waiting period of 10 days. Not a convenient solution when tourists are up from one of the nearby tribal casinos and just want a quick bite to eat.
So after 11 years of "waiting for someone else to challenge the law" the Sanells finally stepped up and took action.
Last week Richard Sanell went before the county's
commissioners to officially plead his case. His reasoning, he said, is
based on purely on finances. "It's about a tax to generate dollars. The
county would increase revenue. It won't be millions of dollars, but it
could be thousands of dollars... if we're passing a casino law to raise
revenue why not liquor by the bottle?"
Indeed, Cherokee County passed a referundum to allow a casino in the county but time is running out
for a developer to build one. Sanell blames this in part on the dry
county rule. "They [the casinos] made sure they had the votes to win
but they forgot about the no liquor by the drink law which would have
been another round of votes to deal with."
Sanell's argument
could apply for much of Kansas. With the state in a budget crisis,
25 counties do not allow liquor by the drink -- including 12
counties like Cherokee, which border another state with laxer drinking
laws. Kansas Department of Revenue has the full map. None of the counties has a major population by itself but together they represent a sizable chunk well into the thousands.
The
state doesn't make it easy, though. Sanell estimates that by the time he
and Amy get through all the red tape and get the liquor-by-the-drink
initiative on a ballot and passed, more than a year will have passed. From a former
reluctant law-changer, Sanell is now passionate to get the law changed.
"It's about the bigger picture, raising money for the state and giving
people the right to choose to drink... isn''t that what were based on in
America -- freedom to choose?"
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This is not entierly accurate, as we have several liqour stores in town. I live right down the street from one right in the middle of baxter. on the corner of military and 22nd street stands cowntown liqour, which sells alcohol by the bottle. It also sells prepackaged shots of alcohol, as well.
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