A Blue Law May Fall

Georgia is considering Sunday liquor sales:

A regular beat in the rhythm of Georgia life: The Sunday trip to the grocery store, when families, freshly sprung from the pews, pack the aisles in their church finery and when the beer aisle is always immaculate, refrigerated -- and desolate, due to a ban on Sunday alcohol sales. That last part may soon change throughout much of the state after Nov. 8, when residents in 101 cities and counties will have a chance to vote on lifting the ban, the Morris News service reports. Among them is Atlanta, the state capital, where Mayor Kasim Reed signed a measure approving a citywide vote on the issue last month.
It's not clear that every community will choose to loosen the Bible Belt a notch, but the fact that the matter is even on the ballot marks a victory for grocery stores, liquor distributors and their lobbyists over groups like the Georgia Baptist Convention.
New state legislation was required to allow the matter to go before voters. But for five years, religious groups, as well as the religious sentiment of legislators, kept such measures bottled up in the Georgia statehouse.

I should note that Ohio doesn't have Sunday hard alcohol package liquor sales.  The article does mention that Georgia cities allow the sale of alcohol in restaurants and bars on Sunday, but the fact that the Georgia Baptist Convention can prevent sales of beer at grocery stores on Sunday up until 2011 is a reason I wouldn't live in the south.