County may tweak Blue Laws for Sunday business
By Samantha Lyles, Staff Writer, slyles@newsandpress.net
Darlington County Council member Bobby Kilgo made a suggestion at council’s Feb. 18 work session that might provide local businesses with more commerce while protecting those who wish to reserve a day for religious observance.
“Darlington County can, if it chooses, move to exempt the Sunday Blue Laws,” said Kilgo. “We’ve already done that for alcohol. We had to do that by referendum; the people voted for it. I think we need to look at the possibility of doing the same thing for businesses.”
Currently, Blue Laws restrict retail businesses in unincorporated areas of the county from opening on Sundays prior to 1:30 p.m. Kilgo explained that while businesses located within municipalities like Hartsville and Darlington are exempted by local statutes, stores outside city limits are still legally hamstrung.
“What this would allow is for all our Dollar Generals and Family Dollars out there in the county to fairly compete with Walmart in the cities,” said Kilgo. “It would allow people who want to go shopping to do it on Sunday morning.”
Council chairman Bobby Hudson observed that some stores in the county already open before 1:30 p.m. on Sundays, and council member Le Flowers quipped that changing the law would simply make legal what those businesses are already practicing.
Kilgo provided council with copies of similar Blue Law exemption ordinances enacted by Lancaster County, Oconee County and Sumter County. The ordinances provided people with the option to refuse to work on Sundays if they are “conscientiously opposed” to doing so.
Kilgo said he liked the Sumter County ordinance’s language on this topic, which protects workers from being penalized by employers for refusing to work on Sunday.
Further, Kilgo observed that America has become a multi-cultural and multi-faith nation, which requires legal consideration and protection for those who observe holy days. He said he wants to put the Blue Law exemption ordinance on County Council’s March 4 agenda so the matter can be discussed and, pending approval, made the rule of law for Darlington County.
