Beer follows BBQ to Cedarville

story and photo by Marla Cantrell

Sit down for this one. You can now buy beer in Cedarville. That’s right, BEER. In the small, conservative northern Crawford County town of Cedarville. At a place called Ima Jerk Barbeque. Really. Ima Jerk.

On Wednesday (Nov. 18), the Arkansas Beverage Control Board granted the limited liquor license to owner Keenan Winters. He had originally asked for a private club license that would have allowed him to sell more than just beer. It was a 3-2 vote in favor of granting the license, according to ABC Director Michael Langley.

His appeal was granted as 12 people, including representatives from the Assembly of God Church in Cedarville, and the Crawford County Sheriff spoke against his request.

Winters hopes to get his license by Monday but has yet to decide when he’ll start selling beer. He said it will be the crowning glory to his barbeque, which he calls “better than Memphis.”

“The only thing I was looking for was to sell was beer,” Winters said. “It’s a family restaurant first. Beer is second. If you want to drink, you have to buy food. This is not a bar. Everybody who testified against me said, ‘you got great barbeque.’”

Crawford County Sheriff Mike Allen opposed the license because of the location of Ima Jerk. It’s on Arkansas 59, a heavily traveled road, and the only way in and out of Cedarville. Also, at the time Winters first filed for a license, Cedarville — a town of a little more than 1,000 — did not have a police force. Now it has one officer, but that doesn’t solve the problem.

“Since then, they gave birth to a new police department in Cedarville,” Allen said. “As it stands right now, it’s just a one-man department, so it’s very hard for one person to cover a 24 hour shift, 365 days a year. We thought the additional calls would be a hindrance.  … So, if we can find a way to stop a problem before it starts, that’s what we do.”

Allen said there’s a possibility the citizens opposed to the decision could appeal, but he believes that would be a futile move.

Opponents can file an appeal with the Circuit Court in Crawford County or Pulaski County. A judge does not see new evidence, but is tasked to make sure the board did not make any technical errors or arbitrary decisions with the vote, Langley explained. A judge may then send the decision back to the board for review or overturn the vote. However, Langley noted, in the past 14 years only one decision was overturned — and that was merely for a clarification and did not ultimately change the outcome of the decision.

The barbeque place is the third restaurant in the dry county to sell alcohol. Sister’s Bistro in downtown Van Buren led the way in 2007. The following year, Cajun’s Back Door, not far from Sister’s on Main Street, also received a private club license. Many in the town opposed the idea of letting liquor into the bone-dry town. They feared the change would weaken the character of Van Buren, bring in the wrong element, and cause an explosion of crime.

But the crime didn’t happen. Van Buren Police Department figures show no significant change in alcohol-related crimes. In fact, in 2005, two years before Sister’s opened, the city posted the highest number of alcohol arrests (482) in the past five years. The lowest was 384, the year Sister’s opened. (See chart at end of story.)

The liquor trail is now moving north.

Chili’s and China Buffet on Arkansas 59, approximately three miles north of downtown Van Buren, have applied for permits from ABC. The board has yet to decide whether the two restaurants will have their petitions granted.

Rep. Rick Green, R-Van Buren, said there is an argument to be made in favor of granting the requests.

“On the economic side, there are businesses that believe they’re harmed by not allowing alcoholic drinks,” Green said. “There’s been an incident that people stopped in Van Buren who were actually traveling and asked to order a glass of wine with dinner and couldn’t, and got up and left the restaurant. A lot of the income in Van Buren is based on tourism.

Continuing, Green noted: “I don’t drink. But at the same time, you’ve got to look at what the trend is nationwide. At what cost to the city of Van Buren do people want? Do we want to be isolated as such, or do we want to thrive economically?” (Link here for a recent story about the ins and outs of Arkansas liquor law.)

Maryl Koeth, director of the Van Buren Advertising and Promotions Commission, said  Sister’s was one of the few restaurants doing well in the city, based on September revenue numbers.

If sales continue to grow, this could be just the beginning of an interesting social change in Crawford County. For years, the Midland Avenue bridge was the concrete barrier between a city where liquor flowed and the town where you couldn’t buy a drink to save your life.

There is no place to buy a case of beer in Van Buren, but you can buy a bottle, if you don’t mind driving to Cedarville.