Posted on 07/06/2006 11:35:38 AM PDT by GeorgiaDawg
Hi all....
FReepers have been very helpful in the past and I wanted to touch base to see if you could help again.
Our city council is debating putting Sunday alcohol sales on the ballot, yet again. The matter has been defeated twice in the past few years, but they are considering the referendum again.
While I am a believer of seperation of church and state, I also believe in keeping the Sabbath holy....can this be reconciled? I'd appreciate any thoughts or comments on any experience any of you have had with this issue...
Georgia Dawg
When I lived in North Carolina, the county I lived in was dry...however that was never a problem for us...we lived near the county line, and all one had to do to buy alcohol, was just go a few miles to the next county...
Once over in the other county, one could buy alcohol, even on Sunday...but they had another weird Blue Law..you could not buy certain items, which hinted at they were going to be used for 'work', in any sense of that word...I remember going into one of the big grocery stores on a Sunday, and in the area where the brooms, dustpans, etc, were sold, there was a sign, alerting shoppers to the fact that they could not buy these things on Sunday...Sunday was supposed to be for 'rest', and therefore one could not buy things with which one might work...you could get drunk, but could not sweep the floor...
Of course, none of these was a problem for us as we were military, and since the military base was quite close to our home, we could get anything and everything we needed...
But I grew up in Chicago...they had a very strange law regarding alcohol, tho since I have been gone from there for many years, I am not sure if this law is in effect still...anyway, bars, clubs, and restaurants were allowed to serve alcohol until 2am...then they had to stop serving alcohol until 6am or 7am, at which point they could begin serving again...
However, on Sunday, the law was a little different..instead of being allowed to begin serving alcohol early in the morning, on Sundays, they had to wait until 12 noon...it was almost as if, the lawmakers believed, that even the drinkers needed to be in church on Sunday morning, and then after church, the bars could begin serving again...
As a child, I remember walking past our neighborhoods local bar, The Horseshoe Tavern, and seeing a line beginning to form... I had to pass this tavern on my way to Sunday school and Church...upon my return, it was usually just a little before 12 noon, and the line had grown considerably...often my brother and I would lag behind my mother, as we wanted to see the doors open, and watch all those in line, rush in for a drink...we always got a kick out of that...
What could possibly be wrong with Sunday alcohol sales? It is legal every other day. Restaurants here in N. GA are at a big disadvantage trying to compete with Chattanooga. Most people who are going out for an expensive meal want to have a drink to go with it. I would much prefer to stay closer to home, but because of the prudes who are afraid Sunday sales will keep people out of church I am forced to drive an extra 30 miles each way.
By the way, where are you located where it is going to be up for a vote?
Your problem is with equating alcoholic beverages with groceries. They are not the same.
I don't really care if they sell it all day or not. I just don't feel the laws need to be changed. There are many things I'd feel are more important, like reversing Roe v Wade.
GA Dawg, why did you stir the pot and back off? Which side of this fence are you on?
Red herring alert. Do biscuits and gravy have any history in the legal tradition of the Southern community? No, they do not.
You don't like regularly scheduled voting? What's wrong with opposition?
"Because most religious groups that have Sunday for their sabbath are done with their services by noon.
If nothing else, anyone who remembers the description of Pearl Harbor should be able to see a certain unspoken respect for those who choose to worship."
I don't get what you're saying at all; if you buy beer or wine on Sunday morning the Japanese will drop bombs on you?
You also imply that any alcohol purchased at, say, 8:00 on a Sunday morning is going to be consumed no later than 8:01. We sometimes do grocery shopping early on a Sunday morning, and it's nice to be able to buy everything at once - not just certain categories!
No, what I don't like is the tactic of wearing people out in order to get your way and that sometimes includes bringing up an issue at every possible opportunity. I'll admit it's effective, but it's very childish.
If it's because they're so firmly LDS, why do they sell liquor at ALL?
I think it was pretty cool of the GA Dawg. He probably hoped something like this would happen, and is sitting back, chuckling. I know I would if I had thought of this. Good way to pass a boring thurs afternoon.
Tinkering with U.S. laws about alcohol to promote "good social values" was unheard of in the days of our Founders. It wasn't until a century later, when a group of busybodies promoting the "Social Gospel" (actually a heresy of Christian teaching, stemming from popular misreadings of Scripture) started agitating to use the force of government to coerce "good" behavior in people by fiat.
What's the point? People will just stock up on the other 6 days.
If you want to do it right, make it illegal to consume alcohol on Sunday. Anything else is just a partial solution to protecting this somehow-special-but-not-religious day. While you're at it, why not criminalize a whole host of activities you don't approve of?
...sheesh...
The proper role of government in a free society directly relates to my question concering whether you subscribed to objectivism. You are free not to answer it, but I don't think it's irrelevant.
Aren't the pro-life people trying to wear-out the abortion people? Isn't that what voting is all about?
Prohibiting alcohol sales before noon on Sundays only makes us (Christians) look petty and hypocritical.
The Blue laws were not only laws about alchohol use but a series of laws including when commerce could take place.
LOL! Um, here in Vegas Albertson's sells liquor all the time.
Yes, I am. They are the same.
They appear on the same shopping list to be purchased at the same store.
The beer is right down the line of coolers between the frozen pizzas and the trendy cooler-drinks.
A number of us are quite chagrined that we would ever see a comment like that on Free Republic. We know it happens, but it remains disturbing.
What's wrong with this comment?
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