SHERWOOD, Ark. — Residents of Sherwood have once again been working to allow alcohol to be sold on the other side of town.
Though it's a tactic that has been attempted before and has failed many times, this time around they're hoping things will end differently.
"The rules say you can go into a restaurant and get a drink, but you cannot have off-premise alcohol sales and so what that means is there can't be a grocery store that sells alcohol, gas station, something of that nature," said Monica Treat.
For decades, the city of Sherwood has been split into two, where one half of the city is allowed to sell alcohol and the other half is not.
So, Monica Treat, a 35-year-old resident created the "Act for Sherwood" petition to collect signatures to try and get that changed.
"An Act for Sherwood is a petition that we are actively out getting signatures on for the purpose of this is to be able to bring economic development to North Sherwood," Treat said. "There is a very old law, the gray township that's currently dictating alcohol sales in that area. So, we're not trying to make it the wild west, but we are trying to do is create economic equality across Sherwood."
She also explained how over the years she has seen the economic benefits that a wet county can have versus one that's dry. She said that merging the entire city of Sherwood to become completely wet will benefit them tremendously.
"We want to keep those tax dollars in our city, those tax dollars could help incentivize businesses to come to our city we can put them back in parks, recreation, our school system. So, there are so many things that Sherwood could do with that tax money," she described.
The goal is to collect 4,000 signatures from registered voters so it can be on the November ballot and so they can abolish the law completely.
"The purpose is for us to be able to create more economic development, we have a wonderful city, and we have a very high-income threshold and so the great thing is, is we have the money to be able to support the retail shopping, great quality restaurants. But unfortunately, this law from about 75 years ago is still dictating what we can do," Treat added.
Treat also said she will be hosting a Spring Fling on Saturday, March 16 for residents in Sherwood who would like to come out and sign for "Act for Sherwood" to be put on the ballot.