There are fears about escalating alcohol-fuelled violence in a small eastern Bay of Plenty town.
An application has been made with the Whakatane District Council for a liquor store to open in the heart of Murupara, with a hearing set down for Friday.
Local board member Memory Jenner says it's dividing an already fragile community.
"We do have a petition in the shop," she says. "The shopkeepers are asking locals to sign it if they want a liquor store, and they're signing all their family names. That's ridiculous. They'll do anything."
There will be a peaceful protest outside this week's hearing, but locals are gearing up for a David and Goliath battle.
Ms Jenner says the town has enough alcohol-related issues.
"The flow of alcohol to underage youths is happening with parents, older siblings and cousins, aunties and uncles. There's smashed glass after parties around the town, violence."
She believes the application wasn't advertised well enough, resulting in low submission numbers.
The small forestry community fears it will bring nothing but bad news for the low socio-economic area.
"We've done so much work in Murupara to turn their thinking around about drug- and alcohol-free events," says Ms Jenner. "If the store opens up it's going to undo all the hard work that we've busted our butts to do in the last two years."
The bottle shop would be the town's first.
Newshub.
