ALCOHOL LIMITS EARN SUPPORT LANCASTER POLITICIANS BACK TOUGHER SALES LAW.

Byline: Charles F. Bostwick Staff Writer

LANCASTER - Mayoral and City Council candidates in general said they supported stiffening Lancaster's 14-year-old law regulating businesses that sell alcohol.

Eleven of 16 mayoral and council candidates attended an election forum sponsored by the Antelope Valley Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Policy Coalition, which is pushing for Lancaster to emulate a toughened law adopted last year by Palmdale.

``We can limit the seediest outlets, and there are seedy outlets,'' council candidate James Young said, adding that he saw no reason to affect people who drink responsibly.

With five-term Mayor Frank Roberts bowing out, Vice Mayor Henry Hearns and five other challengers are running for the mayor's post. First-term Councilman Ed Sileo and nine challengers are vying for two council seats - Sileo's and the one Hearns is giving up to try to be mayor.

Mayoral candidates Hearns, Gene Gaynor and David Paul were at the forum, the second for this election, as were council candidates Sileo, Young, Ron Smith, James Abadejos Janette Crawford, David Abber and Roger Price.

Mayoral candidates Peter Ware, Doug Sichley and Irv Mitchell Jr. and council candidates Nellie Tillman, Barry White and Kenneth Williams did not attend.

The first draft of potential changes to the alcohol sales ordinance is expected to go before the City Council no earlier than June, after the upcoming municipal election.

``It certainly gives us time to interact together and discuss all possible viewpoints,'' said Ray Chavira, chairman of the coalition's alcohol policy commission and the forum moderator.

All the candidates expressed at least qualified support for changing Lancaster laws - if in no other way than to keep liquor stores, bars and similar establishments away from parks and schools.

Abber sounded the least supportive, saying that he saw benefit in keeping alcohol sales away from places with children but also saying that laws exist already to control adults who drink irresponsibly.

``It's a free country. People have choices. If people choose to abuse alcohol, the criminal laws will punish them,'' he said.

Abber also used the alcohol ordinance as an example of how he says Lancaster is falling behind Palmdale, since Palmdale stiffened its alcohol-sales ordinance last year.

Sileo and Hearns both defended Lancaster, saying it was the first local jurisdiction to adopt controls on businesses that sell alcohol. Palmdale and Los Angeles County both followed, with the latest Palmdale changes a revision of its 1994 law.

Sileo and Hearns in December proposed re-examining Lancaster's 1992 ordinance to see if the Palmdale provisions should be incorporated into Lancaster law.

Crime associated with businesses that sell alcohol is the primary reason for regulating them, Sileo said.

``There is a downward negative effect on our neighborhoods and our community,'' he said.

Hearns said he proposed the city's original law passed in 1992.

``I'm for making it as tight as we can make it and still allow people to do business,'' Hearns said.

Palmdale's revised ordinance requires new liquor stores, bars and convenience stores be at least 1,000 feet apart. It also requires special permits for new supermarkets, restaurants and other businesses that sell alcohol, which Palmdale officials said will let them crack down on businesses that cause trouble or whose patrons do.

Crawford, an Eastside School District trustee, cited Canadian research that indicates the availability of alcohol increases alcohol-related problems, regardless of the affluence of a community's residents or other factors.

``We need a balance,'' Crawford said.

Gaynor, a tax accountant making his second run for mayor, said he believes some restrictions on alcohol sales makes sense, though he doesn't want to run out restaurants and other businesses. Medical studies have shown alcohol can have beneficial effects, he added.

``You can't ban it totally,'' he said.

Smith, Lancaster's planning commission chairman, said he sees a need to regulate alcohol sales. He also said he doubted many people object to someone drinking wine in a restaurant, but a ``half-gallon of malt liquor on the corner is something different.''

Abadejos said, ``If it was up to me, alcohol would be abolished.''

But he also said the city needs good-paying jobs to help solve problems such as alcohol abuse; he suggested city officials visit Europe or South Korea to try to draw an auto assembly plant.

``The poor people that don't have a job, what do they do but drink so they feel better,'' Abadejos said.

Price, a minister, said he wants to restrict new businesses selling alcohol.

``The more you can minimize its existence, certainly the better off that community is going to be,'' Price said.

Paul said he supports regulation of alcohol sales but believes in trying to change the underlying causes of problems rather than attacking the symptoms only.

Charles F. Bostwick, [phone]

chuck.bostwick(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

(color) Ray Chavira, chairman of the alcohol policy commission of the Antelope Valley Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drugs Policy Coalition, moderates a forum of 11 of Lancaster's mayoral and City Council candidates on Wednesday.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer