Ware town meeting rejects banning ‘nips’ liquor bottle sales

Jan 21, 2024

WARE – Town Meeting on Monday rejected a citizens petition seeking ban on "nips" liquor bottle sales in this community of 10,060.

A Select Board member said the small bottles represent 23% of sales at package stores and that a ban would hurt local businesses.

Ware Town Manager Stuart Beckley recommended against the article. The Select Board voted 4-1 against its passage. Those opposed were the chair, Caitlin M. McCarthy, and members Joshua A. Kusnierz, Keith J. Kruckas and Nancy J. Talbot.

McCarthy said enacting the ban would impact "25% percent of sales [that] local businesses would be missing out on. The state is working on some kind of refund. I don't want to see businesses fail."

Board member John J. Cascio, who favored the bottle ban, said, "We’re trying to clean Ware up. Unfortunately the ‘nips’ are all over the place."

Dan Bruso, owner of Bruso's Liquors at 144 Main St., acknowledged that there are littering issues from the failure to properly dispose of the bottles. But he said a better solution would be for the state to allow a 5-cent return on them, to relieve the trash problem.

He also said that if littering is the concern, trash strewn across town from a McDonald's restaurant and a Dunkin Donuts store should be of greater concern than small liquor bottles.

"We’re the only ones being asked to suffer," Bruso said.

Although Ware uses an electronic vote tabulation system at town meeting, the apparatus malfunctioned during Monday's meeting and was unable to produce an actual vote count on the proposed "nips" ban.

Town Meeting Moderator Kathleen Coulombe said she was able to view a graphical representation of the vote, showing the article was defeated "by a majority."