Tonight, the Village board or council or whatever the hell they call themselves will be voting whether or not to allow beer and wine to be sold at grocery stores in Morton, expanding the hours of sale for beer, wine, and spirits, as well as dropping the fee for beer and wine tastings. This vote, unlike 90% of the other votes in Morton (because I’m a renter), actually has an effect on my life. Wal-Mart is extremely close to my apartment. Going there for beer would be a ton easier than having to drive ALLLLL the way to Main St in town. Furthermore, it could mean more tax revenue for the village, because those of us who would normally be forced to drive to East Peoria to get alcohol after 9 PM during the week and 10 PM on weekends will now be able to spend that money in Morton. And I don’t want to hear that “You don’t need to be buying alcohol after 10 anyway” bullshit. Different people keep different schedules.

There is a large contingent in Morton of religious fundamentalists and grumbling old coots who seem to think it’s still 1950. These are the same people who wanted to block the construction of Wal-Mart and the business park on the east side of the Morton Ave overpass because they didn’t like all the fancy electric lights in their end of town. You can see evidence of this by travelling south on Morton Ave from Lakeland. One side of the Kenworth sign was painted black because certain homeowners in Ossami threw a shit fit about it being too bright and disturbing the neighborhood. Give me a fucking break. If you want to live in the middle of the 20th century, move to Arthur or some other such town. Morton is growing into more than a bedroom community, and will need to lure young families if the village is to continue to succeed.

Oh yeah, and being able to get beer right across the street will be fucking sweet.

Update: HOORAY! Passed, 4-2. But, as the PJ Star points out, I won’t be able to buy beer at Wal-Mart this morning. Like I have time to go to Wal-Mart before work.