The job of Carroll County's liquor board is to regulate the sale of alcohol. The board, however, sees itself in a different light: As a temperance society to suppress the sale of alcohol. Considering some of its decisions in recent years, the board's orientation has been to make the retail sale of liquor, beer and wine as difficult as possible. The board's peculiar perspective on its duties may explain county restaurateurs' recent outburst against the board.
Members of the liquor board must accept the fact that in Maryland circa 1995 alcohol is a legal substance. It is also true that alcohol may be the most abused drug in America, but the job of the liquor board does not involve alcohol treatment or rehabilitation. Its job is to carefully regulate the sale of alcohol.
The frustration of the county's restaurateurs has reached the point where they believe that by adding a couple of members of their industry to the board, they can inject some balance into its deliberations. As alluring as this plan may sound, the mere addition of industry members will just change the location of the battles that retailers and restaurateurs now wage. Instead of attacking from the outside, the industry will be on the inside arguing the same issues.
At present, the board seems to believe that by making a liquor license difficult to obtain and by imposing arduous rules on establishments that have licenses, abuses can be prevented. To some degree, the board has a point. However, a more effective strategy for the board is to continue being tough on enforcement -- as it has been -- but allow businesses that sell liquor, particularly restaurants, to grow.
The board might also help its relations with the restaurant industry by making a genuine effort to eliminate some of the nonsensical regulations on the books. If the board needs the General Assembly's action to revise liquor laws, it should enlist the help of the industry. The fact that the industry wasn't even made aware of changes the board was proposing to submit to the legislature recently made no sense.
The liquor board does not have to carry water for the eating and drinking industry. However, if the board adopts a more common-sense approach toward its duties, the rift between the panel and county businesses may subside.
lTC