By Eric Bestul

I’ve been fairly quiet on this, but I’ve had enough. Stop with the “Time to boycott all of the businesses in Iola because the Village Board denied the Thirsty Perch its liquor license” talk.

That line of thinking is asinine. You complain about the Village Board “killing the town,” then promote doing the exact thing that actually kills a town (not supporting the businesses there). We, like other businesses in town, have no say in any of this. This is between the Perch and the village. Why punish all of us who are trying to get by?

I get it. You are mad that your favorite place can’t sell alcohol (even though they have been given options that would allow them to do so). They can still have food. They can still have music. It’s not like they are totally innocent in this either. If there weren’t OWI’s, there wouldn’t be a problem. If there weren’t ordinance violations, there wouldn’t be a problem. Yes, some of these have been pled down, but they still happened. None of the other bars have had these problems. Why should they be punished? What do you want all of the other businesses in town to do? Close down in solidarity with the Perch and march on town hall with torches and pitchforks? Get real. That was never a possibility. We are all just trying to keep ourselves afloat.

The worst part of all this is the division and vitriol that have become the new norm on social media for Iola. Would you really tell me to my face that you are boycotting my business because the Village Board won’t give the Thirsty Perch a liquor license? Would you really rather have every other business in town fail than the Thirsty Perch not have a liquor license? I doubt it. If you would, you probably aren’t someone who’s very supportive of other businesses in town anyway, and that’s fine. It is your choice at the end of the day. Just be mindful of how what you say online looks to other people in the community. I’ve lost a lot of respect for many people on this topic.

I hope this can all be resolved in a way that makes everyone happy, but until that happens, please think before you post.