Will Pruzhany authorities listen to sober voice of local residents?

Pruzhany residents demand to transfer to another place the alcohol shop “Sklad”, belonging to the Brest Distillery Plant, which has been opened recently opposite secondary school No. 4. The people consider such placement of the shop as harmful for children and teenagers.

According to them, there are no places in the city where people could drink good coffee, but it's not a problem to buy aclohol. Near each school there is a shop where alcohol can be bought. At present, there is also a special alcohol shop near secondary school No. 4. People think it is necessary not only to relocate the new store, but also liquidate the old ones to prevent children from seeing the bad example of the adults who abuse alcohol.

The deputy head of the Pruzhany District Executive Committee Viachaslau Zubko believes that according to the law each shop can sell vodka if it keeps to the established rules, and the issue of alcoholization lies much deeper. According to him, one shouldn't begin with the shops, the more that “Sklad” is equipped with video surveillance and children have nothing to do there. Mr. Zubko says he wishes that there were few shops with vodka, but, pitifully enough, now Belarusians cannot live like Sweds.

The former head of school No. 4 Ivan Zdanovich is sure that the alcohol shop should be removed from the school, as the example of adults is contagious. The same opinion is shared by priests, believers and hundreds of the residents who signed the petition in which they ask the local authorities to relocate the shop further away from the school to make the first step in the anti-alcoholic campaign.

According to Pruzhany residents, as long as the country's economy depends on the "drunken money" it is very difficult to struggle for a sober way of life.