Posted on 04/13/2005 12:24:42 PM PDT by Free and Armed
Keg proposals alarm Chapel Hill Chapel Hill had sought controls
By MATT DEES, Staff Writer
CHAPEL HILL -- Bills filed in the General Assembly that would require beer keg buyers to register with the state could invade lawful citizens' privacy and have unintended consequences, Town Council members said Monday. While still voicing support for keg registration as a tool to discourage underage drinking, the Chapel Hill Town Council voted unanimously to send their concerns to local lawmakers as the bills await committee hearings.
Council member Cam Hill said the laws proposed are more stringent than what the council envisioned when it initially asked local legislators to explore a registration policy.
One version of the keg registration legislation is proposed in the Senate, sponsored by Sen. Malcolm Graham, a freshman Democrat from Charlotte. An identical bill is sponsored in the house by Democratic Rep. Martha Alexander of the Charlotte area. A different version proposed in the House is sponsored by Reps. Verla Insko and Joe Hackney, both Democrats from Chapel Hill.
Each of the proposed laws would require keg buyers to obtain permits from the local Alcoholic Beverage Control board that listed when and where the keg would be consumed. Also, all keg purchases, legal or illegal, would be public records.
Under the Insko-Hackney version, ABC officials would have the right to perform a criminal background check on a would-be keg buyer, at the applicant's expense.
The council had envisioned simply putting a sticker on a keg that would allow police, if they busted an underage keg party, to find out who provided the alcohol to minors, and to charge them with crimes.
But advocates for the proposed laws say the extra measures will make it easier for police to enforce the laws, particularly when police will know where every keg party in town is being held.
"Just label the keg and let it go," Hill said. "All this other stuff is unnecessary. It inhibits the legal purchase of alcohol. It's harmful to merchants, and it's a slippery slope."
Council members feared making a keg purchase overly burdensome merely would send people looking for other options. The proposed law would do nothing to track people purchasing a large volume of hard liquor or even several cases of beer.
"You may as well pick up a bottle of Everclear if you have to keep going back and forth to the ABC store," council member Mark Kleinschmidt said.
Kleinschmidt said he didn't want people who support the law, such as a grass-roots group of parents who have mobilized rapidly in the last year, to mistake the council's critiques for a lack of concern.
"It's not an expectation or desire that all underage children get drunk and their bodies pile up in intersections," he said.
WTFIIWNC?
Chapel Hill = VERY liberal town. They pretty much legalized dope.
When kegs are outlawed...
Chapel Hill, despite having so many edjumacated folks, is just eat-up with Stupid.
They tried a 4-keg limit here in Ohio. Anymore than 4 you had to register with police.
The law was repealed within 2 years.
One keg a month
Uh huh. I'll be sure to hold that party where I registered the keg at. Riiight...
without registered kegs it'll be the Wild West adn Dodge City. People will walk around forcing others to drink and it'll be mayhem.If people are allowed to conceal kegs- kegs will be pulled out in road rage incidents.(sarcasm)
They only want to eliminate those kegs known as Saturday Night Specials
Yes it is, but one that the NRA could make great PR currency out of by being a champion against it. Beer ain't guns, but beer is freedom to a lot of people who don't have guns but do like freedom. The "linkage" is obvious to a good political strategist.
I'm laughing my ass off at the 'concerns' of Chapel Hill town council members. They have imposed the strictest gun control in the state without a bat of the eye, now they're concerned about the 'rights' of beer buyers!
Gotta ban those assault kegs with more than a 30 cup capacity. They've been used to commit mass drunkeness. Think of the children!
But suppose people are buying kegs in border states and then reselling them in CH? What then?
"The "linkage" is obvious to a good political strategist."
Yep, I've added this incident to my new arsenal of arguments when people tell me I can't own an AK-47. If there's one thing your average college student understands, it's beer.
maybe dianne feinswine will point a keg at her head while demonstrating their inherent danger.
They can have my keg when they, um, uh, . . . . dude, what were we talking about?
This sounds like they are underhandedly supporting the aluminium can industry.
They're also in the pockets of beer companies, because they make higher profit margins when selling beer in cans and bottles than on kegs.
I'm sure if I bothered I could come up with several more conspiracy theories that make more sense than what I believe to be the truth.
I think these idiots really think that the solution to every perceived problem is legislation and government oversight of normally legal activities in an attempt to catch someone breaking the law.
These idiots basically see everyone as a potential criminal that must be watched to prevent them from going on a crime spree.
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