I am interested in finding out if anyone who resides in the east Columbiasecition of Columbia would be interested in starting a petition to legalizethe sale of beer in restaurants that seat the legal amount needed to servebeer. I think Columbia has gone long enough without having big namerestaurants even consider our area to locate a franchise due to Columbiabeing a dry territory. We not only lose out on good places to eat, we loseout on tax revenue, and tourism. I will definitely sign a petition and wouldstart one, but my job keeps me out of town quite often. I may evenconsider coming off the road to open Big Al's Bar & Grill if our petitiongathers enough votes to pass. I believe East Columbia would includethe Lindsey Wilson student body, so any students who are interested inhelping our community grow with your help, please make sure you registerto vote in the upcoming election. Any and all help is needed to pull us intothe modern world so we can compete with the surrounding counties. - Big Al Owens