The Joplin city council rejected a motion Monday night that would have banned the sale of 50 milliliter (about 1.69 oz) bottles of alcohol. KRPS’s Fred Fletcher-Fierro has more.
The council, meeting for their 7th consecutive week between special sessions and regularly scheduled council meetings decided on a 6, 3 vote Monday against banning those small bottles of alcohol that you commonly see at grocery and liquor store checkouts.
The proposal was brought to the city council by a lifelong resident of Joplin and nightlife business owner John Buck who spoke at the council meeting Monday.
“What many people don’t know is that people (who) come into your establishment already drunk and intoxicated they’ve become my responsibility if I serve them a drink or not. And you can easily pay for the price for other people’s decisions that you had no part in doing.”
Buck conceived the ban idea after a community group that he helps organize picked up 1,000’s of those tiny, 50 milliliter bottles during weekly trash pick-ups.
If the ban would have passed, Joplin would have joined Chelsea, Massachusetts near Boston who banned them in 2018 and the state of New Mexico who banned their sales in 2021.
For 89 9 KRPS News, I’m Fred Fletcher-Fierro
