BOLLINGER COUNTY ENDS BLUE LAW

On Tuesday, Bollinger County joined its neighboring counties in exempting itself from Missouri's law that bans sales of most merchandise on Sundays.

By an overwhelming 3-to-1 margin, voters in the county exercised their prerogative and did what other counties and cities all across the state have been doing in recent years: repealing Missouri's so-called Blue Law.

It was somewhat of a ho-hum issue since at least one store -- the new Dollar General at Marble Hill -- had been open on Sundays for some time without any meaningful protests from those who might have been opposed to the illegal sales. It was the store's opening on Sundays that brought the issue to a vote since Bollinger County authorities had said they weren't really concerned.

The president of the Marble Hill Chamber of Commerce summed it up best. "Bollinger countians voted at the ballot box like they've been voting with their pocketbooks for years," he said. "People have been going out of town on Sundays to get what they want for the longest time."

Making Sunday sales legal in Bollinger County was long overdue.