No sandwiches for Edgecombe ABC Board

Opinion

August 20, 2010

W. TERRY SMITH Editor The Daily Southerner Fri Aug 20, 2010, 11:35 AM EDT

TARBORO — Linda Rogers was out of breath when she came to the phone the other day.

"I was out to one of those fancy dinners," said Rogers, general manager of the state's six Alcohol Beverage Control (ABC) stores in Edgecombe County.

Rogers can joke, but she will admit the reports about some ABC board members around the state in the last year have been hurtful.

"It upsets me because we work hard and try to do the right thing," she said. "It upsets me that a small percentage can make us all look bad."

New Hanover County Administrator Billy Williams, who recently retired after 42 years with the ABC, was known as “The Godfather” because of his extensive knowledge of the system.

Rogers remembers Williams "always giving us good advice at our conferences."

Most us only know of Williams because he and his son Bradley, the assistant administrator, were earning six-figure paychecks.

Billy Williams was the state's highest-paid ABC administrator, making $279,615 with a bonus and longevity pay. He ran a county system with nearly $31 million a year in sales and one of the most profitable.

Rogers, who has been with ABC for 27 years and the general manager since December 1999, has not a raise in four consecutive years. She is paid $46,000 a year.

The Edgecombe stores had $3.7 million in sales the fiscal year ending June 30, 2009, and $3.59 million in 2008. 2010 figures are not available, but sales were down.

In 2009, sales generated $732,229 in taxes to the state, $192,186 in profit, which was distributed thusly: $40,314 to law enforcement, $15,000 to Edgecombe County Memorial Library, $5,000 to Braswell Library in Rocky Mount; and $71,917 to the county general fund, $6,314 to Tarboro, $5,355 to Rocky Mount; $3,641 to Pinetops, $3,103 to Whitakers; $2,800 to Macclesfield and $2,760 to Princeville.

Individuals cannot open liquor stores in North Carolina. Towns and counties have elections for an ABC store. The town or county board then appoints board members who oversee the ABC store(s).

ABC Boards are independent. They operate as separate entities establishing their own policies and procedures in conformity with ABC Laws and Commission Rules.

Edgecombe board members are county Commissioner Charlie Harrell of Tarboro, Gleno Horne of Dunbar, Joe Eagles Jr. of Pinetops, C.B. Bunting III of Pinetops and Shelly Willingham of Rocky Mount, the chairman.

When there is a conference, only one or two go, not the whole group.

In 2003, when Eckerd Drugs (now Rite Aid) wanted the ABC store at the corner of Raleigh and Fairview roads in Rocky Mount, the board swapped its 1,800 square-foot store and had Eckerd build Edgecombe a new 4,000 square-foot store next door. In 2009, the board bought the lot next door to its store and headquarters on Wilson Street for $80,000 for extra parking.

The six Edgecombe stores in Tarboro, Pinetops, Princeville, Macclesfield, Whitakers and Rocky Mount employ nine full time and 14 part-time men and women.

"Somebody has to die or retire," Rogers said, to create a vacancy. There are about 200 applications a year. If a clerk sells to an underage patron, they are dismissed.

The state has been in the liquor-regulating business for almost 75 years, but Gov. Bev Perdue and Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight have mentioned the possibility of privatizing the ABC systems.

"I hope we don't ever see privatization," Rogers said. "Who wants a liquor store open all night?"

Edgecombe's ABC stores open at 10 a.m. and close at 9 p.m.

Last November, a liquor company took Mecklenburg County board members to a fancy dinner where the tab was $12,700.

"We've never had a sandwich bought here," Rogers said. "We rarely even see a (liquor) salesman because we are so small."

In July, the governor signed legislation that bars board members from accepting gifts from contractors doing business with their panel or stores plus other measures designed to keep a better eye on store operations and the people that run them.

In other words, make them more like Edgecombe County.

W. Terry Smith is editor of The Daily Southerner.

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