Yorba Linda : Ban on Alcohol Sales at Gas Stations Passed

Despite protests by one City Council member that his colleagues would be “infringing upon my personal freedom,” the council has agreed to ban the sale of alcohol at mini-marts that sell gasoline.

On a second 4-1 vote, the council also agreed Monday to consider banning alcohol sales at Driftwood Dairy, the city’s only drive-through dairy store, which also sells alcohol.

Yorba Linda is joining a growing number of Orange County cities that prohibit the sale of alcohol and gasoline at the same establishment in an attempt to curb drunk driving.

The ordinance, however, will affect only future mini-mart operators and will not bar the city’s only existing mini-mart from selling alcohol, officials said.

Councilman Gene Wisner, who voted against both ordinances, said emotions about drunk driving should be kept out of consideration of the new regulation. He said the proposals are discriminatory and would take away personal freedoms.

However, Dave Larson, executive director of the Orange County chapter of the National Council on Alcoholism, said the overriding issue is not whether statistics show a correlation between drunk driving and liquor sales at gas station mini-marts.

“The issue today is the message,” he said. And the message is that “it is not OK to drink and drive.”

Statistics, however, were tossed out by both sides.

Linda Sammons, vice president of People Against Adolescent Chemical Abuse in Yorba Linda, mentioned a study linking mini-mart sales to drunk driving.

But representatives from different mini-marts recited different statistics to support their argument that there is no correlation between gas and alcohol sales and drunk driving.

Other county cities that have banned such joint sales are Laguna Beach, San Juan Capistrano, Garden Grove, Huntington Beach, Fountain Valley, Newport Beach, Orange and Seal Beach.

Anaheim and Westminster allow the sale of beer and wine at such establishments but prohibit signs advertising liquor outside the buildings.