NORTH CAROLINA GENERAL ASSEMBLY
1959 SESSION

CHAPTER 1052
SENATE BILL 501

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE QUALIFIED VOTERS OF THE CITY OF STATESVILLE TO DETERMINE WHETHER ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL STORES SHALL BE ESTABLISHED IN SAID CITY AND TO PRESCRIBE THE METHOD OF OPERATION AND THE DISPOSITION OF THE NET PROFITS THEREOF.

The General Assembly of North Carolina do enact:

Section 1. Upon a petition to the governing body of the City of Statesville, signed by residents of the said city equal in number to fifty per cent (50%) of the highest number of votes ever cast in a municipal primary or general election in said city, all said petitioners being registered and qualified voters of said city, the governing body of said city shall order an election to be held on the question of whether or not City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores may be operated in the City of Statesville; and if a majority of the votes cast in such an election shall be for the operation of such stores, it shall be legal for Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores to be set up and operated in the City of Statesville, but if a majority of the votes cast in said election shall be against the operation of said Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores, no such stores shall be set up or operated in the City of Statesville under the provisions of this Act.
Sec. 2. The governing body of the City of Statesville may submit the question herein above‑mentioned and call a special election for the purpose of submitting said question at any time after the receipt of the petition required by Section 1 of this Act. In the event said special election is called the same shall be held and conducted on the date fixed by the governing body of the City of Statesville. A new registration of voters for such election shall not be necessary and all qualified voters who are properly registered prior to registration for the election and those who register in said Alcoholic Beverage Control election shall be entitled to vote in said election. In said election a ballot shall be used upon which shall be printed on separate lines for each proposition, "For City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores", "Against City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores". Those favoring setting up and operating Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores in the City of Statesville shall mark in the voting square to the left of the words, "For City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores", printed on the ballot and those opposed to City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores shall mark in the voting square to the left of the words, "Against City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores". Except as otherwise herein provided, if a special election is called, the special election authorized shall be conducted under the same statutes, rules, and regulations applicable to general elections for the governing body of the City of Statesville, and the cost shall be paid from the general fund of the City of Statesville.
Sec. 3. If a subsequent election shall be held and at such election a majority of the votes shall be cast "Against City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores", the City Alcoholic Control Board shall within three months from the canvassing of such votes and the declaration of the results thereof, close said stores and shall thereafter cease to operate the same, and within said three months the City Control Board shall dispose of all alcoholic beverages on hand, all fixtures and all other property in the hands and under the control of said board and convert the same into cash and turn the same over to the city treasurer. Thereafter, all Public, Public‑Local and Private Laws applicable to the sale of intoxicating beverages within said City of Statesville in force and effect prior to the authorization to operate City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores shall be in full force and effect the same as if such election had not been held, and until and unless another election is held under the provisions of this Act in which a majority of the votes shall be cast "For City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores". No election shall be called and held in the City of Statesville under the provisions of this Act within three years from the holding of the last election thereunder.
Sec. 4. If the operation of City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores is authorized under the provisions of this Act, the governing body of the City of Statesville shall immediately create a City Board of Alcoholic Control to be composed of a chairman and two other members who shall be well known for their character, ability and business acumen. Said board shall be known and designated as "The City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control". The members and chairman of said board shall be designated by the mayor and governing body of the city and the member designated as chairman shall serve for his first term a period of three years. As to the other members, one member shall serve for his first term a period of two years, and the other member shall serve for his first term a period of one year; and all terms shall begin with the date of their appointment. Thereafter, as the terms of the chairman and members expire, their successors in office shall serve for terms of three years each, and until their successors are appointed and qualified. Any vacancy shall be filled by the governing body of the City of Statesville for the unexpired term. Compensation of the members of said City Board of Alcoholic Control shall be fixed by the governing body of the City of Statesville.
Sec. 5. The said City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control shall have all of the powers and duties imposed by G. S. 18‑45 on County Boards of Alcoholic Control and shall be subject to the powers and authority of the State Board of Alcoholic Control the same as County Boards of Alcoholic Control as provided in G. S. 18‑39. The said City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control and the operation of any City Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores authorized under the provisions of this Act shall be subject to and in pursuance with the provisions of Article 3 of Chapter 18 of the General Statutes of North Carolina except to the extent which the same may be in conflict with the provisions of this Act. Wherever the word "County" Board of Alcoholic Control appears in said Article, it shall include the City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control. The City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control shall have authority to employ legal counsel and such other employees as it may deem wise and fix their compensation.
Sec. 6. Out of the gross profits derived from the operation of said Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores and after the payment of all costs and operating expenses, and after retaining sufficient and proper working capital, the amount thereof to be determined by the City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control, said board shall spend for law enforcement purposes and appropriate to nonprofit, cultural and/or educational organizations or institutions, including libraries, in Iredell County, fifteen percent (15%) of the net profits derived from the operation of said stores, as determined by quarterly audits. The amount to be apportioned for law enforcement and to each of the various cultural or educational organizations, institutions, or libraries shall be determined from year to year by the governing body of the City of Statesville.
In the expenditure of funds for law enforcement, the City Board of Alcoholic Control shall employ one or more persons as law enforcement officers, to be appointed by and to be directly responsible to, said board. The persons so appointed shall, after taking the oath prescribed by law for peace officers, have the same powers and authorities within Iredell County as other peace officers have; and any such person so appointed, or any other peace officer, while in hot pursuit of anyone found to be violating the prohibition laws of this State, shall have the right to go into any other county of the State and arrest such defendant therein, so long as such hot pursuit of such person shall continue, and the common law of hot pursuit shall be applicable to such offenses and such officers. Any law enforcement officer appointed by said City Board of Alcoholic Control and any other peace officer is hereby authorized, upon request of the sheriff or other lawful officer in any other county, to go into such other county and assist in suppressing a violation of the prohibition laws therein, and while so acting shall have such powers as a peace officer as are granted to him in Iredell County and be entitled to all the protection provided for said officer while acting in his own county.
Out of the remaining net profits derived from the operation of said Alcoholic Beverage Control Stores, the City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control shall on a quarterly basis pay over to the following‑named boards of education, amounts equal to the percentages of the net profits which shall be expended by said boards of education for the following purposes and none other:
(a)	Fifty percent (50%) to the Statesville City Board of Education, to supplement the capital outlay budget.
(b)	Thirty‑five percent (35%) to the Iredell County Board of Education and the Mooresville City Board of Education, to be divided between said two boards of education on a per capita enrollment basis, and to be used to supplement the capital outlay budgets.
The funds paid over to each of the three boards of education, as provided for in this Section, may be accumulated from year to year, in case it shall not be necessary to expend the same during the fiscal year in which collected and paid over.
Sec. 7. The City of Statesville Board of Alcoholic Control may authorize the establishment and operation of additional stores within the municipality if, in its discretion, it finds the same desirable.
Sec. 8. All laws and clauses of laws in conflict with the provisions of this Act are hereby repealed.
Sec. 9. This Act shall be in full force and effect from and after its ratification.
In the General Assembly read three times and ratified, this the 17th day of June, 1959.