Logan approves alcohol sales

LOGAN - Voters in Logan approved by a 5-to-1 margin a mail-in ballot question on whether to approve the sale of beer and wine at restaurants there.

A total of 331 voters, or 84%, approved the June 4 special-election ballot question that read: "Shall the issuance of restaurant license for the sale of beer and wine be allowed within the local option district in the Village of Logan?"

Only 63 voted against the measure.

Turnout for Logan's first-ever mail-in election was the highest in recent memory. A total of 394 people returned ballots, which was 46% of the 862 registered voters in the village.

Rosalie Rachor, Logan's clerk and treasurer, said turnout was higher than even during the most recent village board elections. Ballots were mailed to voters about May 7.

Rachor said the village received six ballots by mail the day of the election, and four more brought their completed ballots to the village hall in person.

She said she received no complaints from residents about the village's first mail-in election.

"It was a fairly simple process," she said.

Rachor said 143 of the mail-in ballots were undeliverable.

Mama T's restaurant, which is moving into the former Whiskey: The Road to Ruin building a few hundred feet from its old location on U.S. 54, requested the election.

Mama T's general manager, Brian Cox, stated in an email in March the restaurant wanted to "keep the tradition of the building alive" by serving alcohol there.

"We are pumped about the passing of the beer and wine sales," stated Mama T's co-owner Tonya Cone in a text Sunday. "However it is not that big of a deal to us. We would just like to be like other towns in (New Mexico) to be able to provide it."

Cone stated she and the other owners have been "working hard" with the state to get the proper permits for the 1905 building.

"We current have met all permitting regulations and will start soon," she stated. "Thank you for waiting on us; we are working so hard to get opened soon."

The Road to Ruin building previously was an Eagles club until it closed in July 2018. According to the Tucumcari Historical Museum, the building also once was The Ranch Bar, owned by Mae Cobb. The bar later changed its name to Whiskey: The Road to Ruin. Before that, it was Johnson Mercantile.

The Mama T's license would be different from The Annex Bar-B-Q and Grill, which is attached to a convenience store and has a distributor license for alcohol. It also would be different license than the convenience stores along U.S. 54 in the village that sell package liquor.

Restaurant beer-and-wine licenses forbid the business from earning more than 40 percent of its revenue from alcohol.

It remains uncertain how long it would take for Mama T's to receive a license to serve beer and wine from the state's Department of Alcohol and Gaming.

The mail-in special election came with a cost. Rachor estimates it will cost the village between $2,700 to $3,000.

Because of that, Rachor anticipates the Logan village board during its June meeting will opt in to letting Quay County run its elections. In January, the board voted to opt out and chose to run its own elections. But the additional expense prompted the board to reconsider, Rachor said.

The last time Logan held an election involving liquor sales occurred in 2012, when residents voted whether to allow by-the-drink sales on Sundays. It passed 113-72.