Last December, the council approved a year-long suspension of the blue laws that prevent merchants from selling certain items before 1:30 p.m. on Sundays. Council members had considered another temporary repeal, but instead gave first approval to a motion to extend the current suspension for another five years. The measure requires one more vote before becoming official, but passage appears certain.

Councilmen who favor lifting the blue laws cited job creation, increased local business and more local tax revenues as some of the reasons to extend the suspension. They also, no doubt, listened to retailers who said that lifting the restrictions had been a boon for business.

This five-year suspension does not affect Sunday alcohol sales. Rock Hill voters will decide whether to lift the ban on Sunday alcohol sales within the city during a referendum in November, but that is a separate issue and one that won't affect the whole county.

The best (and perhaps the only) argument for keeping the Sunday blue laws is to protect employees' rights to attend church. Those who oppose lifting the blue laws say employers often force employees to work Sundays or risk losing their jobs if they refuse.

That, in fact, is against the law. Both the state and county have penalties in place for employers who fire or demote employees who refuse to work on Sunday. But blue-law advocates make the case that actually invoking the law and risking an employer's wrath is difficult.

But this is not an insurmountable problem. We suspect that most employers are willing to tailor work schedules to the needs of worshippers. Also, most churches have service schedules that are flexible enough to allow people to worship even if they do work on Sunday.

Finally, many employees willingly choose to work Sundays to fatten their paychecks, often at mandatory time-and-a-half pay.

For a larger segment of the public, the lifting of the blue laws has been a significant advantage. For many busy families, the weekend is the only time they can go shopping. In fact, Sundays are the second busiest shopping day of the week for many stores, and the busiest day for others, including many restaurants and grocery stores.

Delaying store openings until 1:30 p.m. was both an inconvenience to shoppers and a drag on commerce. In an era when people can shop 24/7 on the Internet, requiring merchants to open late on Sunday simply made them less competitive.

Sunday shopping -- as with Sunday alcohol sales -- should be a matter of choice. It makes no sense to restrict sales of items on Sunday that are legally sold the other six days of the week.

We commend the County Council for listening to shoppers and merchants, and extending the suspension of the blue laws for five more years. Someday, we hope, these archaic laws will be suspended altogether.

IN SUMMARY
County Council made the right choice in approving suspension of blue laws for five years.