The Potomac Highlands Dispatch - the online newspaper

Man wants to know what state law allows volunteer fire companies to own liquor licenses
Yost: Issue is 'a quiet concern' but 'also a very strong concern'
Kelly: 'No one else has contacted us'
Edwards: Will seek opinion from Attorney General's Office

By The Potomac Highlands Dispatch
CUMBERLAND, Jan. 6 -- Flintstone resident Robert Yost said there is a "quiet" but "very strong concern" about what state law, if any, allows public safety agencies such as volunteer fire companies to hold a permanent liquor license.

Yost spoke Thursday night during a public forum with all four members of the District 1 legislative delegation to Annapolis. He said there seemed to be no existing law that allowed such activity.

"I don't want to see them have a liquor license," Yost said.

Delegate Wendell Beitzel said local lawmakers worked with fire companies to ensure they could, in fact, hold such licenses. During the 2009 session, the Allegany County delegation sponsored House Bill 624 which created a separate Class C license for volunteer fire companies. Then, Beitzel said, the Allegany County Board of License Commissioners, also known as the liquor board, said existing law did not permit Class C license holders to serve the general public but only to members.

Selling alcohol is a major fundraising component for several Allegany County volunteer fire companies, Delegate Kevin Kelly said, including Midland, Mount Savage, Clarysville, Barton and Flintstone. Representatives from those units said if they were required to stop selling to the public they might as well not pay to own the licenses.

The liquor board supported a change in the law to allow those volunteer fire companies to own and operate a Class C license and serve the general public, thus maintaining an important revenue stream.

Yost countered there are "thousands of ways to raise funds" and spoke against "the very idea" of allowing a first-responder to have access to an open bar. Yost did not specifically cite safety as a primary concern during his diaologue with lawmakers.

Delegate Kevin Kelly, a longtime friend of volunteer fire companies, addressed the issue with Yost and seemed to take exception that Yost used words such as "we" and "community" to indicate more than Yost opposed current practice.

"No offense," Kelly said, but "you're the only person ... Absolutely no one else contacted us" about this.

Senator George Edwards suggested Yost circulate a petition to show the delegation he had support on the issue. He also said the delegation would seek an advisory opinion from the state Attorney General's Office.