Please help us KEEP White Lake as the “Nation’s Safest Beach.”

I really have been thinking a lot about the upcoming vote about beer and wine at White Lake. I have lived in Bladen County all my life. I was part of the last class at Elizabethtown High School. I have worked in Elizabethtown for over 40 years, driving 20 minutes every morning. I took my kids to White Lake and now am taking my grandkids, one of whom lives at White Lake.

After the death of my first husband, I was blessed to marry yet a second time. I lived in Greenville for 9 months before he retired. When deciding where we wanted to make our retirement home, after living at White Lake part-time, we decided on White Lake. We bought a house here in 2012. We love the lake and the closeness of our friends and neighbors here. There are activities for kids of all ages and it is truly a residential resort community as proclaimed on our welcome signs. We love the lake and the community spirit. We are not afraid to ride our bikes and motorcycles around the lake and enjoy the beautiful scenery.

If the beer and wine referendum passes it will mean that right around any corner there could be a bar. The vote not only covers buying it at White Lake but also ON PREMISES CONSUMPTION. As of now, most people, if they drink, do it on private property, which is their right, but to allow “joints” if you will, to be dotted around our beautiful lake would not only be an eyesore, but a danger to everyone living and visiting here.

Look at all the unwelcome patrons and activities that would follow. I would hate for our beautiful town to become a “Pottersville” like the little town on “It’s A Wonderful Life,” dotted with bars, drugs readily available and the undesirable activity that is associated with on premises consumption. Wouldn’t you hate to see White Lake change from a Bedford Falls to a Pottersville?

So please think on this as you vote in the upcoming primary, which by the way is MARCH 15, not May as our usual voting time in the past. Please vote AGAINST the beer and wine referendum. Help us keep White Lake the welcoming, safe and wonderful town we all live in and love!

Kay Johnson Martin

White lake