“I think God is still good and the people put him out of the picture,” said Joel Glaze, who thought Athens was better dry. “It’s hard to do this when you take the No. 1 abusive drug and call it progress. But I will personally make a prediction now, in two years the Athens City Council will impose a 1-cent sales tax to take care of all alcohol money we are getting.”

Gooch believes his followers did what they could.

“The people worked hard on this issue and I am thankful for the numbers we got,” said the pastor at Isom’s Chapel United Methodist Church. “We feel like we did what the Lord asked us to do. We realize the people had a free choice. We just praise God we had the opportunity to vote like this.”

Blakely reported that while the votes were being counted, Athens’ newest downtown restaurant that serves alcohol, Giovanni’s, was packed.