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Andrews council passes ordinance restricting alcohol on town property

The Andrews Town Council passed an ordinance restricting the possession, consumption and sale of alcohol on town-owned property during its meeting on Monday, June 9.

Ordinance 2014-4 prohibits alcoholic beverages from being brought into, consumed, sold or given away on town-owned property, except as otherwise permitted pursuant to a temporary permit issued by the Indiana Alcohol & Tobacco Commission.

Containers holding alcoholic beverages that have been opened, have a broken seal or from which some of the content has been removed were specifically prohibited from being on town-owned property in the ordinance, which also set fine scales for violations.

Town Marshal Curt VanOver took issue with wording in the ordinance, favoring the word "may" instead of "shall" as it pertains to issuing fines to citizens found to be in violation of the ordinance. VanOver argued that "may" allowed greater room for judgment in the law's enforcement, contending that "shall" was too rigid.

Councilman John Harshbarger, however, countered that "shall" was necessary in order to give the ordinance its authority and it was the word that made it into the ordinance's final wording.

Council passed the ordinance unanimously.

In other business:

Council awarded the town garage construction project to L B Schwartz Brothers Construction, LLC, accepting its bid of $254,000.

Laura Dillon reminded council that the grand opening celebration commemorating the completion of the Andrews-Dallas Township Public Library expansion project is set for Saturday, June 14, at the library from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.