Say what you want about Decatur’s city government and staff, but they’re planners.

While some other cities rushed to get their Sunday sales ordinance approved so that they could have one extra day of Sunday sales – to the great benefit of those cities’ alcohol distributors – Decatur apparently decided to be prompt, but also smart.

Tonight, Decatur’s City Commission is likely to approve a revised liquor ordinance that will allow for the sale of alcoholic beverages on Sunday starting two days after Black Friday.  (If they don’t, expect drunken recitations of Thomas Paine’s “Common Sense” in the streets.)  But that’s not the only change being proposed for that most hilariously-worded of Decatur ordinances.  (“Moral turpitude!” Hee hee!)  There are dang near nine different updates being made to “spirits law”.   (I quote that like I’m making some offbeat reference to a mid-90s indie film hoping to impress, but really I’m just a quotations “man of the night”.  See I did it again!)

The most notable of which is what I’ll term “The Cafe Alsace Amendment”.  That’s the amendment that will now make it legal for Decatur restaurants with valid serving licenses to allow patrons to bring their own bottles of wine to a restaurant and charge a corking fee.  This topic was brought up in a FFAF thread back in January, where a patron complained that Cafe Alsace wouldn’t let them bring in their own bottle of wine for consumption.  The proprietor of Cafe Alsace, Benedicte Cooper, rightly told the patron that while other Decatur establishments may do this, it is currently illegal, and therefore she would not.

A good six months later, Mayor Floyd mentioned in a commission meeting that after talking with Ms. Cooper, he’d like to see the alcohol ordinance changed so that this was no longer prohibited.  (See: Bring Your Own Wine? Mayor Thinks It’s Fine! post)  And then we waited.

What were we waiting for?  Apparently we were waiting for this Sunday sales vote, because now that we need to get it on the books so folks can start “rushing out for that elusive forgotten bottle of wine for a Sunday evening dinner party” – the specific reason most commonly given on DM – the city’s going to do a good bit of tweaking.  Want a list?  You’ll have to click thru…

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“S” forwards this announcement from Assistant City Manager Tony Parker…

The City of Decatur will test the new Tornado Outdoor Warning Siren system for installation purposes on Friday, January 22, 2010 at 12 noon. The test will last approximately two minutes.

The first official monthly testing of the system will be held on Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 5 p.m. If there is inclement weather that day, the test will be postponed until Thursday, February 4 at 5 p.m.

Going forward the system will be tested on the first Wednesday of each month at 5 p.m. The sirens will sound for approximately one minute during each testing.

If you have questions about this or other Emergency Management issues, please contact Tony Parker, Assistant City Manager, Emergency Services, tony.parker@decaturga.com or call 404-370-4102.