Liquor to be sold in Lakeland before noon on Sundays

LAKELAND, Fla. (AP) – Bars, restaurants and other alcohol vendors can now sell drinks before noon, and the prohibition on packaged liquor sales on Sundays has ended in Lakeland.

City commissioners unanimously approved a change in the city’s alcohol law Monday, immediately ending the special consideration for Sundays compared to other days, a so-called “blue law” – an ordinance with roots in religious morality.

The Lakeland Ledger reports the Mayor Howard Wiggs, responding to individuals and groups who argued against extending the availability of alcohol in the community, said the law would have little impact on Lakelanders’s souls.

He said that if the council passes the ordinance, he didn’t envision a “spiritual decline” in the community.