STARKVILLE — When Robbie Ward came back here six years ago, he thought the inability to buy alcohol on Sundays made the city look backward.

Growing up, he’d lived in Meridian, Starkville, Yazoo City, Greenville and Hattiesburg.

After graduating from the University of Southern Mississippi in 2003, he returned to Starkville to pursue a career in newspaper reporting in a place he still considers home. He worked in the then newly established Starkville bureau of the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

Having lived in Mississippi cities where people had the opportunity to buy alcohol on Sundays, he “realized right away” Starkville did not permit such behavior.

He sat at a booth in Dave’s Dark Horse Tavern one night last week nursing a cup of iced water, recalling those days and explaining his feelings on the subject and his desire for a change in the policy.

“It’s time to make this an issue,” he said. “It’s the issue for Starkville right now.”

Ward, who is 31 and an employee in Mississippi State University’s Office of University Relations, said he isn’t a big drinker, and he doesn’t necessarily need a Sunday fix, but he still believes the city should expand the time window when people are allowed to buy alcohol.

The issue is one candidates for aldermen and mayor here debated and spoke out on during their campaigns. The winners of the elections were sworn in Thursday, and now they will be able to deal in actions, not only words.

Ward, who calls himself “a concerned citizen,” is convinced the city must change its rules about purchasing alcohol on Sundays. He expects a policy change this year.

The policy in question appears in the city’s code of ordinances: “No beer or light wine shall be sold for on-premises or off-premises consumption on Sunday,” it reads.

In Oxford, where the state’s second-largest school of higher education, the University of Mississippi, is located, alcohol may not be sold on Sundays. And in Tupelo, beer and light wine may not be sold on Sundays either.

Ward rattled off several reasons to change the ordinance in Starkville.

For example, he said restaurants would gain more revenue if they were able to sell alcohol, and more alcohol sales in the city would provide more tax revenue for the city.

And national restaurant chains like Buffalo Wild Wings have expressed interest in coming to Starkville if they could sell alcohol, he said.

Representatives of Buffalo Wild Wings could not confirm or deny making a verbal agreement to open a franchise in Starkville in time for such information to be published in this article.

Mike Cashion, executive director of the Mississippi Hospitality and Restaurant Association, said the ability to sell alcohol on Sundays can be one of several factors a restaurant chain will consider before deciding to establish a franchise in an area.

“There are different segments of the restaurant industry that would certainly benefit from allowing Sunday sales,” he said.

Other factors can include population density, traffic, disposable income and competition, he said.

“If all those indicators in the market match up with what their needs are, then they’ll give further consideration to locate there,” Cashion said.

For Ward, the most important thing is to change the policy because, as it stands now, it presents “a perception problem.”

Changing it to allow sales on Sunday “needs to happen,” he said, “to make this a better place, or make this what it can be.”

It’s just one change the city must make in order to become more progressive, as he said it has been doing in the last few years. He cited the Starkville Community Market and increased city involvement in recycling as proof of a transition going on around the city.

Mike Reilly, general manager of the Bistro at State Theatre, wants the transition to continue. “We want Starkville to be as progressive as possible,” he said, “and we think Sunday alcohol sales would be a progressive thing.” If the city were to allow alcohol sales on Sundays, he said, the Bistro would open on those days.

The Greater Starkville Development Partnership has chosen not to take a stance on the issue. The public and private entities it represents have conflicting views on the issue, and “it would simply be divisive for us to become a part of it,” said its president and CEO, Jon Maynard.

Board, residents divided on issue

As for the city’s elected officials, Ward said he recognizes the issue has its detractors. Ward 1 Alderman Ben Carver is against Sunday alcohol sales.

Carver believes dealing with the Sunday alcohol issue would get in the way of more important ones. “It’s something that would bog down the city,” Carver said after being sworn in Thursday. What’s more, he said, Sunday is a day of rest.

Ward 7 Alderman Henry Vaughn Sr. is personally not in favor of selling alcohol on Sundays but has expressed interest in holding public hearings on changing the policy.

“We gotta be concerned about the safety of our children,” Vaughn said after the swearing-in. “Is the revenue gonna be that great that we’re gonna turn (the policy) over?”

Ward said Ward 6 Alderman Roy A. Perkins may be “unpredictable on this issue.”

Perkins could not be reached for comment.

Ward also notes the ordinance change has supporters on the new council in Ward 2 Alderwoman Sandra Sistrunk, Ward 3 Alderman Eric Parker, Ward 4 Alderman Richard Corey and Ward 5 Alderman Jeremiah Dumas.

“It’s not an emotional issue, it’s not a moral judgment about drinking,” Sistrunk said Friday. “It is a business development sense in the sense that it makes the community more atttractive to people outside the community.”

Parker agrees. “It’s a symbolic (move) that shows that it’s a new day in Starkville,” he said after the swearing-in.

Mayor Parker Wiseman said he “will be neither a catalyst for it nor against it,” but would not veto it if it were to pass.

Bill Poe, 72, a volunteer coordinator of the Starkville Community Market, believes the issue should be thought of as “seven-day alcohol sales,” because a “Sunday alcohol ban” sounds negative to him. He is in favor of changing the policy to allow people to buy alcohol any day of the week.

Although Jackie Lindsey, of Starkville, said she doesn’t drink, she, too, is in favor of a change. “I just think some things can’t be legislated, or shouldn’t be legislated,” said Lindsey, 67, at the community market Saturday. “We should have a choice.”

Don Autry, who owns a farm in Wren, is against changing the policy. “To be honest with you, I don’t think any store should be open on Sunday,” he said at the community market. If people want to drink alcohol on Sunday, they can buy it on other days, he said.

Danny Rowland, senior pastor at Starkville’s First United Methodist Church, said he wants Starkville’s businesses to thrive, but he doesn’t want to give up Sunday as “a day that is reserved for worship and the church.”

The church used to have worship time for local congregants on Wednesdays but gave it up for sports like softball and soccer, Rowland said. He said he did not want to lose Sunday too.

Ward has heard arguments like Autry’s and Rowland’s, but he remains eager to see the policy change.

“It’s key to improving the city,” he said.

Buying alcohol on Sundays in Northeast Mississippi

Starkville

• Beer and light wine may not be sold for consumption on or off premises on Sundays, or between midnight and 7 a.m. Monday through Saturday. But on Friday nights, the cut-off time becomes 1 a.m. Saturday, and on Saturday nights, it becomes 1 a.m. Sunday. On weekdays when there is a home football game for Mississippi State University, the cut-off is extended to 1 a.m. when consuming on premises.

  Columbus

• Package liquor can be sold for consumption on premises from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, city attorney Jeff Turnage said. It is available for consumption off premises from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday. And unless an institution has resort status, it may not be consumed on Sundays. Beer and light wine can be sold between 10 a.m. and 1 a.m. Monday through Saturday, and from 7 a.m. to midnight on Sundays.

  West Point

• Places of business licensed to sell “intoxicating liquor” by the bottle or package must be closed between 10 p.m. and 10 a.m. the following day. Places of business in West Point licensed to sell it by the drink cannot sell between midnight and 10 a.m., on Sundays or on election days. Places in business licensed to sell beer in West Point cannot do so between midnight and 7 a.m., or on election days.

  Oxford

• In this North Mississippi college town, alcoholic beverages may not be sold, given or dispensed for consumption on premises between midnight and 7 a.m. the next morning Monday through Saturday. It is also not allowed on Sundays, or any times the mayor or board of aldermen designate with approval from the state’s tax commission.

  Tupelo

• No owner of a beer permit or license can permit the sale, bartering of giving away of beer or light wine between midnight and 7 the next morning. Those substances cannot be sold, bartered or given away at any time on a Sunday.