Update Cheers.
Big alcohol vote in Asheboro:
Brooke Schmidly said many have said they are opposed to alcohol sales because they don’t want Asheboro to change.
“Change is already happening,” she said.
Thousands of manufacturing jobs have been lost, she said. The median family income is declining and poverty rates in the area are going up.
Brooke Schmidly said Asheboro has lost business opportunities because the city lacks certain amenities.
In a domino fashion, the argument goes that people want to come to Asheboro to take advantage of the many tourist attractions.
They can’t come because the city doesn’t have the hotels to house large numbers of groups.
Hotels and restaurants won’t come because they can’t sell alcoholic beverages from which they can derive up to 30 percent of their profits.
J.B. Davis, president and CEO of Klaussner Home Furnishing, said his group had a meeting last week, trying to improve a property owned by the company on the east side of Asheboro.
Large investors are not interested, he said, because of Asheboro’s dry status.
Meanwhile, the N.C. Pottery Center eliminates its biggest expense: the director’s salary.
