1971 Proposal One

In 1971, the village dealt with an issue of being able to or not sell liquor-by-the-glass.  I found this totally intriguing since the Prohibition Era, fifty years earlier than this proposal, has held a great deal of interest for me.  Throughout Fowlerville's history, it was a "dry" town, sometimes even the entire county was dry.  

The following full-page advertisement was taken out by the Committee for Lower Taxes in Fowlerville, labeled, "What Wrong With Fowlerville?" and additionally to "Vote YES for Liquor By The Glass, Monday, March 8th."

I continued looking at this issue of "The Review" newspaper and found the Fowlerville Licensed Beverage Association as well as the Progressive Business of Fowlerville" ran full-page ads.  There were no names associated with the organizations.

In the next issue, Wednesday, March 18, 1971, on the front page, an article entitled, "Fowlerville Approves Liquor" read as follows:

Fowlerville residents approved liquor by the glass for the village by a margin of 58 votes.  354 ballots were cast, with 12 ballots spoiled, for a final count of 200 yeas-142 no.  

With no opposition, all incumbents were re-elected.  It was not known at press time if any write-in candidates had been placed on the ballots.

Re-elected to office were President T. Nelson Tobias, 274 votes; Clerk Murial Bohm, 275; Treasurer Treva Risdon, 273; Assessor Harold Robb, 267; Trustees Gerald Bohnett, 261; Robert Branch, 254; and Andy Linman, Jr., 261.  Library Board members re-elected are Marge Carlon, 264, and Marion Jackson, 260.

Election workers reported that the majority of the spoiled ballots were the results of voters pushing down the markers under the Democratic ticket, either mistaking the markers for the Republican party, or possibly intending to write in a candidate.

A note regarding the above article - the library was under the auspices of the village in 1971.  By 1994, the library became a district library, encompassing the same area as the school district.