VIDALIA — Monday night the Concordia Parish Police Jury adopted what is essentially a position of neutrality regarding alcohol sales outside the city limits of Vidalia for Saturday’s Jim Bowie Festival.

Currently, the police jury has an ordinance in place that would prohibit peddling — including from temporary stands — or the sale of alcohol within 1,000 feet of the Vidalia city limits.

But the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce wants to have a booth selling draft beer at the festival. The city does not allow the sale of alcohol at festivals within the city limits, so the chamber wants to place that particular booth outside the city limits near the Vidalia riverfront.

The chamber requested that the jury make an exception, but because of the short time between the time of the request and the festival, the jury could not do it.

“For us to make an exception, we would have to put it in the paper and advertise for a couple of weeks, so the best thing would be for them to do is seek an injunction,” Juror Whest Shirley said.

In the past, someone has gone to court and gotten an injunction to temporarily lift the peddling ban until the matter could be resolved. In that instance, the person in question owned a fireworks stand.

“The reason the judge ruled that way was because they had already gone out and invested a lot of money in fireworks,” Juror Jimmy Jernigan said.

A peddler’s license falls under state occupational licensing laws. However, if the Vidalia Chamber of Commerce is considered a non-profit entity, they would be exempt from having to get an occupational license for the beer booth, Juror Randy Temple said.

“You might have an out that way,” Temple said.

In the end, the vote taken was to allow the chamber of commerce to go to the district attorney and get an opinion or to seek an injunction.

“Basically, we said that if the district attorney doesn’t care, then we don’t care,” Police Jury President Melvin Ferrington said.

However, Temple said he would like to see the issue taken care of soon.

“Between now and next year, those issues need to be resolved with the City of Vidalia, because (the festival) is a City of Vidalia event,” Temple said.

The jury also voted to send letters to the offices of Sens. David Vitter and Mary Landrieu, and to Rep. Rodney Alexander, requesting funding for and a permit to allow the parish to clear Cocodrie Bayou, which is federally protected as a scenic river.

“The permit is not any good to us without the funding, because it is going to take major money,” Ferrington said.

In other news:

4The jury voted to approve transfers of $2,000 from the highway maintenance fund to the general fund, $5,000 from the drainage maintenance fund to the general fund and $48,000 from the sales tax fund to the solid waste fund.

4The board voted to appoint Heather Malone to the Kisatchie Delta Board.