Wet-Dry Vote for Hardin County Cities Is Tuesday

by Lisa Autry, Kentucky Public RadioVoters in Hardin County's three largest cities go to the polls Tuesday to decide whether to expand alcohol sales.Wet-dry votes are being held in Elizabethtown, Radcliff and Vine Grove. Hardin County Clerk Kenny Tabb says in the past, similar votes have drawn about 50 percent turnout, but these may be an exception."With Radcliff and Elizabethtown already being, I guess you could say, partially wet from the standpoint that they have a restaurant provision, where restaurants are allowed to sell alcohol with a meal, it might not be as big an issue as it once was," he says.If residents vote yes, Radcliff would be eligible for all alcohol licenses. Elizabethtown and Vine Grove would have to hold separate elections for liquor-by-the-drink licenses, which are required to establish venues where liquor would be consumed. All three cities would have access to unlimited retail beer licenses.Opponents to expanded sales have raised moral and safety issues, but proponents say alcohol sales would spur economic development, especially given the cities' location near I-65 and between Fort Knox and Louisville.