Posted on 06/03/2005 4:47:16 AM PDT by Ellesu
Beverages must be frozen, prepared away from public
The 6,000 convenience and grocery stores licensed to sell beer and liquor in Louisiana could also sell mixed drinks under a bill that won approval Thursday from a House committee. The catch: The drinks must be frozen, mixed away from public view and put into cups with a lid.
Opponents said the restrictions aren't enough and that corner stores all over Louisiana will become daiquiri shops if House Bill 754 becomes law.
That could happen at "every Circle K, every convenience store, every B-Quik that has an Icee machine," warned Baton Rouge Republican Rep. Hunter Greene, who led the opposition.
Hundreds of convenience stores already sell frozen daiquiris, but the state commissioner of alcohol and tobacco has recently cracked down on sales he says are illegal and done "under the cover of darkness."
In a state with abysmal alcohol safety records, the proposal would further erode liquor laws, Commissioner Murphy Painter said.
Louisiana has the third highest rate of alcohol-related fatalities in the nation.
"This is a step toward making it less regulated," Painter said. "It just makes a lot of things unclear about enforcement and thwarts -- responsible retailing."
The bill passed the House Judiciary Committee 8-4 with a host of unrelated changes tacked on, including one to restrict happy hours and another to regulate local wineries. The bill heads to the House floor.
Rep. Troy Hebert, D-Jeanerette and bill sponsor, said current law already allows for the sale of closed alcoholic beverage containers at corner stores, and Painter is just misinterpreting that law.
The bill would get the commissioner off of vendors' backs by specifically naming frozen drinks in the law, he said.
Sitting at the witness table with Hebert to explain the bill was Chris Young, a lawyer with Louisiana Association of Alcoholic Beverage Licensees.
Hebert could not explain after the committee meeting why a frozen mixed drink should be OK while other mixed drinks are not.
Neither could Painter, who said the distinction was illogical.
"Where do you draw the line?" he asked.
Painter told the committee that his problem with the rogue stores already selling daiquiris is that their permits do not allow them to mix drinks on the premises.
A frustrated Janet Dewey, a lobbyist for Mothers Against Drunk Driving, begged the committee to set aside "other interests" and consider the danger to-go mixed drinks pose to their constituents.
Dewey said mixed drinks should not be sold where people walk in with their children to shop.
"At some point Louisiana needs to take a stand" and pass "some safe, reasonable and passionate legislation on alcohol," Dewey said.
Rep. Robby Carter, D-Greensburg, pointed out that the difference between a closed container and an open one apparently amounts to which one has a straw.
I love the drive-thru daquiri shops in Louisiana. No sarcasm at all. I really do love them.
Laissez les bon boissons roulet ?
You can have my daiquiri when you pry it from my frosty cold fingers.
Only in Louisiana...
I don't now what "news" this reporter found in the story. There are convenience stores all over the state that already have frozen daiquiri machines in them.
> I love the drive-thru daquiri shops in Louisiana.
Sounds good! ...although it is a little early :)
"Louisiana has the third highest rate of alcohol-related fatalities in the nation."
Wanna bet the first and second highest rates of alcohol-related fatalities are in states with much stricter liquor laws than Louisiana?
Here in Massachusetts, you can't even buy beer except in a liquor store. First time I was in NOL I couldn't believe you could walk around with a Go Cup!
;-)
Oh, you mentioned boudin. I like that, too! On I-10, it seemed that every gas station with a mini-mart sold it.
It's hard to explain anything after 3 hurricanes.
When you go to Louisiana prepare to eat, drink and party like nowhere else in this country...
There used to be one in New Iberia that was an old renovated mechanic's garage. The store was inside the garage and you drove in one end, bought your beer, snacks, smokes, or daquiris, paid for it, and drove out the other end. Most places will sell them in anything from 12 oz. cups to gallons.
Is this true for N LA (Bossier Parish, Shreveport/Bossier)?
Seems kind of close to Texas for that sort of thing..
LOL @ this!
"Yeah, I got uh...12 gallons on pump 4 and also I'll have a Margarita"
Can't say for sure, the last time I was up that way was 12 years ago. I'd hazard to say it's more of a south Louisiana thing. North Louisiana is baptist country, and a lot of the rural towns and parishes up there are still dry. South Louisiana, on the other hand, is Catholic country and anybody can tell you that if you drive down I-10 from the Texas border to the Mississippi border, you'll see a daquiri shop every few miles or so from the time you hit Lake Charles till you've passed Slidell.
BTW: I wouldn't be surprised to find a few daquiri shops up their around Shreveport, because that's where you'll find most of the riverboat casinos liscensed to operate in the state. Their main source of revenue is from the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which is why they moved so many of them up there during the 90s*.
*One of these deals involved former Governor Edwin Edwards, some of his cronies, Eddie DeBartolo, then owner of the San Francisco 49ers, and the FBI. It involved kickbacks, payoffs, bribes, and other sleazy things that landed Edwards in the Fort Worth Club Fed, and cost DeBartolo his NFL team.
Regulating things people want to possess just makes it more dangerous. Throw the book at drunks. Leave the responsible be.
I-10 in Slidell has at least 3 places with Daquiri in the title within a half mile of the exit ramp at Gause Blvd.
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