Free Republic

Treating home distilling as illegal makes little sense, given that homebrewing and wine making have been legal at the federal level since 1978. In the aftermath of its failure to pass a health-care overhaul, Congress appears poised to turn to tax reform. While income and corporate tax rates will likely garner most of the attention, alcohol producers are also hoping for changes to booze taxes. Specifically, brewer, vintners, and distillers have been pushing on Capitol Hill for the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, which would lower federal excise taxes on alcohol. Despite attracting nearly 300 co-sponsors in the...

If you live in Virginia and owe back property taxes, you should probably leave your car parked in the garage. That's because a few local police departments and towns are now using license plate readers provided by the Department of Homeland Security to spot people who owe back taxes and then impound their vehicles. Multiple agencies across the state were able to purchase automatic license plate readers thanks to grant money they received from Homeland Security's terrorism prevention program. But, rather than use them for security purposes, some seem to be using them to fill local coffers by collecting taxes.

Can law enforcement seize an innocent person's property? If you think the answer is no, just ask David Laase. In May 2006, he received an unexpected phone call at 1 a.m. from his wife. She had been arrested for DUI, later pleaded guilty and paid all court-imposed fines. However, that punishment was not enough under the state's civil forfeiture laws. Isanti County sheriffs seized the $35,000 Chevrolet Tahoe she was driving at the time of the stop and refused to return it to Laase, even though he jointly owned the vehicle and had done nothing wrong. Laase became a victim...

Ferguson has allowed its focus on revenue generation to fundamentally compromise the role of Ferguson’s municipal court. The municipal court does not act as a neutral arbiter of the law or a check on unlawful police conduct. … Our investigation has found overwhelming evidence of minor municipal code violations resulting in multiple arrests, jail time, and payments that exceed the cost of the original ticket many times over. One woman, discussed above, received two parking tickets for a single violation in 2007 that then totaled $151 plus fees. Over seven years later, she still owed Ferguson $541—after already paying $550...

Within days after each season premiere and season finale of the Discovery Channel's reality show "Moonshiners," they come — a small but perceptible wave of people — to purchase suspiciously large amounts of corn, sugar and hardy strains of fermenting yeast at Austin Homebrew Supply. "We know what they're up to," says Chris Ellison, the manager of the Texas store.That is, it's obvious they're planning to ferment the sugars from grain or fruit juice into alcohol, then distill the resulting mid-strength beverage into high-alcohol hooch.Making spirits at home with plans to drink it is against federal law. Only with the...

MCDONALD, Pa., - Police in Pennsylvania said they responded to a report of two men burning something in a shed and discovered an alleged moonshine making operation. McDonald police said Midway residents called officers to their neighborhood April 11 with a report of neighbors burning something in a shed and one witness told police he suspected they were making moonshine because he had seen a man loading Mason jars into a vehicle, The (Washington, Pa.) Observer reported Tuesday. Police said they entered the shed to discover Matthew Zirwas III, 33, and Matthew Kirks, 29, operating what appeared to be an...

Speeding tickets generate revenue for the city or county in which they’re issued. If the police department is low on revenue, they’ll set up a speed trap on a busy road and lie in wait for the non-violent speed violators. If the city is really desperate, they’ll invest in a speed camera system that will be distributed around the city and send citations to the registered owners of the alleged speeding vehicles. And if they’re still not happy with the money they’re making, they’ll start issuing speeding tickets to people who aren’t even speeding. In Baltimore, Maryland, they’ve generated over...

JACKSON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) -- A couple has been arrested for running a bar in their garage and dealing drugs. Sheriff's deputies tell WSAZ.com Gary Frontz, and his wife, Lisa Frontz ,both 42, of Ripley, were arrested Friday and charged with delivery of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. Click here to find out more! For several weeks, deputies were investigating, with the help of an informant, to make several controlled buys from the Frontz home along Carnian Road. Investigators say the couple was dealing prescription medication, marijuana and alcohol shots without a...

Senator Hopes To Stop Police Ticket Quotas Some Believe Law Would Make Patrol Officers Less Accountable NASHVILLE, Tenn. -- Police won't admit it, but many drivers are convinced officers have a quota on the number of the speeding tickets they are supposed to write. Now, there's legislation that would prohibit all police in Tennessee from establishing quotas. "I think there is, and it always has been a quota system. I don't care what they say," said one Nashville driver. State Sen. Tim Burchett, a Republican from Knoxville, believes ticket quotas are happening because of revenue, not for safety reasons. He...

More news is surfacing concerning the story reported yesterday on the under-the-table plans for the U.S. Treasury to seize retirement funds and other citizen assets in order to minimize the impact of the coming economic meltdown. The IRS has been purchasing shotguns for its tax collection activities. A photo of the type of shotgun they are buying indicates that it is the short-barreled variety. Only 60 of these shotguns will be purchased. But the story concerning the IRS and firearms highlights the fact that the agency has a massive arsenal at the tip of its hands, given that it deploys...

PARROTSVILLE (WATE) -- Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton, who gained fame and notoriety as a moonshiner, died Monday in Cocke County, sheriff's deputies said. According to a Cocke County Sheriff's Office spokesperson, it appeared that Sutton, 61, took his own life in his Parrotsville home.

When Governor Deval Patrick proposed a 5 percent premium on sugary treats this week, his administration presented it as a sin tax with a bonus: Imposing such a levy, a briefing paper pledged, "is a critical first step in discouraging the consumption of these empty calories." But there is little evidence that an extra nickel or two for a bottle of soda or a bar of chocolate would significantly dampen demand for products blamed for fueling the nation's obesity epidemic. -snip- States big and small, from California to Rhode Island, tack a surcharge onto soft drinks and candy. In all,...

ATF agents discover guns not preferred weapons for ninja Ninja vs. Pirate day started as an innocent way to meet people and invite them to the Wesley Foundation, the United Methodist group on campus. Ninjas were supposed to say, “Hi-ya doing?” while pirates would introduce themselves to students with a “How arrrr you doing?” Unfortunately for Jeremiah Ransom, the sophomore detained by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents Tuesday, he was introduced to an agent’s knee. “I have a good bruise on my back where he had his knee on me,” Ransom said. Camera phone photos submitted to The Red &...

More than 2,200 people have been arrested in Texas bars in the six months since the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission announced a crackdown on public intoxication, primarily targeting bars. The arrests included people who were drunk in bars, who sold alcohol to a drunk person, or a drunk employee on the premises of a bar or restaurant with a license to sell alcohol, said Carolyn Beck, a spokeswoman for the TABC. The commission has been responsible for enforcing the state's alcoholic beverage code for the past 70 years. In August, 2005, the agency announced it was beginning a crackdown on...