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New whiskey petition in Hamilton County could backfire

78 views · Published 28 March 2013 · 1:05 · Indexed 6 November 2026

Channel: chattanooga times free press · 2013 · News & Politics

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Next up, you may have seen canvassers trying to collect signatures to force a countywide vote on allowing distilleries in Hamilton County.
A well-funded group called 'let hamilton distill' emerged last week, but there's just one problem.
No one seems to have heard of the secretive group, and its spokesman is a political operative from Nashville.
The canvasing efforts have Joe Ledbetter of the Chattanooga Whiskey Company worried that all the work he's done to raise support among lawmakers for a local distillery will backfire.
Let Hamilton Distill didn't talk with the Chattanooga Whiskey Company and didn't validate its petition with the Hamilton County Election Commission. That could invalidate the thousands of signatures already gained.
But if the petitions get more than 14,000 signatures validated, the County Commission would be obligated by law to set an election on the proposed referendum.
And despite a bill in the senate right now deciding the future of whiskey in Chattanooga, voters could still say no, which would end hopes of making whiskey here.

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