Bottoms Up
Pros, cons of Sunday drink sales debated

By Zsombor Peter
Staff writer

GALLUP — The owner of the city’s newest sports bar wants to bring Sunday liquor sales — by the glass, not the package — back to Gallup, and he’s asking city voters to join in.

Sammy Chioda, owner of the soon-to-open Sammy C’s Rock N’ Sports Pub and Grill on West Coal Avenue, handed City Hall the names of 730 people Aug. 20 who want to see the matter put to the voters. City staff are still vetting them to find out if at least 500 are registered city voters, the minimum he needs to force the City Council to call a referendum.

Chioda, general manager of local broadcaster Millennium Media, did not return the Independent’s request for comment. But Virgie’s Restaurant owner Charlie Chavez, who collected a page’s worth of signatures for the petition drive, said the move can only help Gallup.

“Everyone’s always talking about economic development ... and you can ask anybody how many people go out of town just to have a drink with their meal,” he said.

Chavez does not open up on Sundays and has no plans to change his schedule after 12 years in business. But Chioda, who’s invested several hundred thousands of dollars into his pub gambit, hopes to keep his doors wide open seven days a week, and Sunday liquor sales could mean a lot more business.

As the members of a local option district, city voters chose to ban Sunday sales decades ago. But even on the Sabbath, that leaves Gallup swimming in a sea of alcohol. Outside of city limits, lines of eager shoppers can be seen snaking out of county liquor stores any given Sunday.

“The city of Gallup has voted (Sunday sales) down, but the county hasn’t,” Chavez pointed out. “The alcohol is out there.”

If Sunday sales returned to Gallup, so might some of that business. But Chavez is quick to note that they’re only asking for drinks by the glass. If voters keep the ban in place, he said, “we’re targeting the responsible people.”

“The people that drink excessively on Sundays ... they’re not people that can afford to sit at the bar,” agreed Lindsay Mapes, who failed to convince voters to ban all alcohol sales within city limits before noon a year-and-a-half ago.

When a glass costs $2.50 and up, the most alcohol dependent, looking for the most bang for the buck, want to buy in bulk. On Sundays, when package sales are banned, some of them turn to more deadly alternatives like “ocean,” a mixture of water and hair spray. Mapes doubts Sunday sales by the glass will do much to make that problem any better or worse. Still, she believes their return can only mean more public intoxication for Gallup.

Others are sure of it.

When former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson lifted a statewide ban on Sunday sales in 1995, Steven Flint conducted a before-and-after study of alcohol-related crashes and found a marked increase. A member of the DWI Resource Center’s governing board and a former state traffic safety bureau chief, Flint said the study looked at a move from completely dry Sundays to liquor sales by the glass and package.

“All the same,” he said, “all the research shows that the availability of liquor contributes to the problems that stem from the abuse of liquor.”

According to Flint, a full 50 percent of alcohol-related car crashes result from by-the-glass sales. There was “no question,” he said, that their return would mean more DWIs.

But if Gallup votes to lift the ban, it won’t be alone. According to the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department, only 54 of the state’s 134 local option districts currently ban Sunday liquor sales by the glass. Another eight ban Sunday package sales.

Chioda isn’t alone either. The official committee behind the petition also includes his wife Marie Chioda as well as Jennifer Dowling, Don Good and Mike Hsu. If and when city staff confirm they’ve collected the requisite 500 signatures, the council must set a date for a referendum within 75 days.