Ellerbe hears wine sales proposal as town looks toward growth

ELLERBE — A special interest hearing on wine sales was held ahead of Monday’s Ellerbe town meeting, opening the floor to residents and business owners interested in the possibility of bringing new economic opportunities to the community.

Tony Frick, owner of Down On The Corner Bargains and More, voiced strong support for the initiative, tying it to a broader vision for revitalizing Ellerbe.

“I hear the many good things about this town right before the 2000s how busy this town was before they rerouted the roads and took our businesses away, so it’s definitely time to think about getting some new things in town. In order to be change, you got to make change. It’s got to start somewhere,” said Frick.

Mayor Brenda Capel said the process is still in its early stages.

“I can’t say yay or nay at this point, there’s some things that have to be done. We just need to get enough interest to put on the ballot,” Capel said.

Attorney Timothy Snead outlined the legal requirements needed to move forward, noting that a petition would require support from 35% of registered voters in order to place the measure on the ballot.

“If a town has a certain number of citizens, then there’s a certain percentage of qualified voters that would have to vote for that. One of the reasons we’re having this informal interest meeting today would be to determine whether we have enough interest,” said Snead.

He added that low voter turnout in municipal elections can pose challenges.

“A lot of towns are looking at a 30% turnout or a 40% turnout if you’re lucky, and that means that everybody will turn out will have to vote in favor of it in order for it to even pass,” said Snead.

Ellerbe currently has approximately 500 registered voters within the town limits.

Annette Frick, owner of Modern Threads Boutique, said customers have expressed interest in local wine options.

“I’ve had several customers come to me asking why we’re not selling wine because they have to drive to Rockingham from Food Lion, or to Norwood or to Albermarle to buy. I was like ‘I don’t know,’ so I checked into it and called ABC myself and spoke to Capel,” said Frick.

Snead explained that the N.C. Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission offers various permits, including one for off-premise wine sales, which allows customers to purchase bottles for consumption at home. When asked if they supported that type of permit, both Tony and Annette Frick said they did. “You’ve got to start somewhere,” said Tony Frick.

Following the discussion, the town council adopted a motion for the board to move forward and place wine sales on the ballot.

Also during the meeting, Jean Fletcher expressed appreciation for new Crime Stoppers signs recently installed in Ellerbe.

“Last month, Chuck Cobb, he’s with the Richmond County Crime Stoppers, they came and put some signs, no charge to the town at the bus garage, the Rankin Museum, we have one at the new park, we got one past Mineral Springs, Dixie Burger and one on the ball park,” said Fletcher.

Capel thanked SKC for their work on the town’s pipe system, addressing concerns about torn-up roads and temporary water outages.

“SKC, they have done a great job. They’ve been working very hard. I know we’ve gotten a lot of complaints about the roads being torn up. There’s nothing we can do about that, but these pipes that we’ve had to replace are over 100 years old,” Capel said. “They may say it’s going to take three hours and they take six or eight. So all of you have had a lot of complaints, but we’re going to have a lot of improvement.”