Alan Whittemore, in his first year on the Brewer City Council, stood alone Tuesday night in rejecting a council resolve against establishing an agency liquor store in the Doug’s Shop ‘n Save on Wilson Street. Being on the short end of a 3-1 vote shouldn’t trouble him. Common sense and good judgment are fine attributes in a councilman, but they cannot guarantee success.

After the state closed its liquor store on School Street in Bangor, as part of a continuing privatization effort, bids were solicited for three agency stores in the area. That’s state policy. The liquor commission selected LaVerdiere’s Super Drug on Broadway, the Doug’s on Union Street and the Doug’s in Brewer.

The Brewer City Council, although it has no legal role or authority in making the selection, injected itself into the process, challenging the wisdom of the Wilson Street location. The council has an obligation to do this when it has legitimate concerns. Its first responsibility is to protect the safety of Brewer citizens and the integrity of the community.

Unfortunately, the council has a corollary responsibility to come up with sound reasoning to support its actions. In this case, it came up dry.

The resolve, which Whittemore and most of the area read with wonderment, opposed the proposed Brewer location because the council believed it was too close to the high school and would generate a potentially dangerous increase in traffic. That is nonsense.

Although the high school is nearby, the door-to-door distance is greater than the minimum 300 feet prescribed by law. The high-school parking lot is full of cars, driven to school by students who can reach any liquor store in the area within minutes of the end of classes. Access and propinquity may be a lure to the underage, but agency stores, like state liquor stores, check ID’s.

As for traffic, accidents and drunken drivers, most of the the liquor stores in the area historically have been located in mini-malls. There is no record of any pattern of congestion and accidents in the vicinity of these stores. In fact, the cinmema center torn down a few years ago probably drew more cars to the Wilson Street mall than will the agency store. There was no problem then, either.

The privatization effort will save Maine taxpayers money. It is good for business. The Maine Liquor Commission followed procedure. It made an acceptable choice. The commission, the store and Whittemore should stand firm on this issue. They may have been in the minority Tuesday night, but they were right.