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Voting With the Preachers and Bootleggers

When I was just a little “whippersnapper,” there were not many liquor stores, or beer joints available. As a matter of fact, the first beer store in Mt. Vernon was owned and operated by the city. To the best of my memory, Vidalia has always seemed to have places that sold beer legally, but not hard liquor.

We have several liquor stores in the county where I live, and it was only voted in a few years ago. Vidalia also has liquor stores today, but even when they didn’t, it was always available — either at a specific well-known location, a phone call, or at a liquor store in Emanuel County only a few miles up the road.

In those early days before it was legalized, it was common to hear folks talking about why it should be legalized. I can still remember some of the reasons they used: 1) We’re just making the bootleggers rich. 2) Folks are going to drink, whether it’s legal, or not. 3) Our neighboring county is getting all the tax money. 4) We’ll have better control of it when it’s legalized. 5) It will be safer for those who do drink because some bootleg whiskey has poison in it. 6) Drinking is OK if it’s done in moderation. 7) Jesus and his disciples drank “real” wine. 8) Only preachers and bootleggers will vote against legalizing alcoholic beverages, most people will vote for it because they know things will be better.

I also remember some of the bootleggers in those days and believe me, folks, they were not rich. In fact, most of them lived in a small house and worked other jobs to make ends meet. When I think about it, the continued from page

argument that we’d be better off when it was legalized doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Since it’s now legal in most places, I personally can’t think of a good reason for selling alcoholic beverages. However, I can certainly come up with some good reasons for not selling it: 1) Most alcohol treatment centers are filled to the “brim.” 2) Our prisons are overcrowded — of which a majority of the inmates were probably under the influence of alcohol, or drugs, when they committed their crimes. 3) Drunk driving is the leading killer on our highways. 4) Heart disease, liver disease, hypertension, kidney disease, cancer, broken homes and many, many more.

You know, folks, I guess we should be thankful that we collect so much tax money from the legal sale of alcoholic beverages. If we didn’t, how in the world would we pay for all the problems that are caused by their consumption? I’m sure we’ll probably get a chance to vote on the legalization of marijuana (which, in my opinion, is another useless mind altering substance) and since it would bring us some of the same benefits as alcohol, I’ll just vote with the preachers and bootleggers…

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