Posted on 09/08/2001 9:35:10 PM PDT by Church Lady
By CHRIS KAHN Associated Press Writer
ROANOKE, Va. (AP) — For generations, state agents have chased moonshiners in rural parts of Virginia, raiding chicken coops, tobacco barns and old warehouses for the illegal brew.
The strong country whiskey, synonymous with Appalachian culture, has made millionaires of families who've quietly produced hooch in these hills, shipping it north to shot houses in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C.
But with guilty pleas from some of the region's biggest bootleggers, police now are claiming a major victory against the industry.
On Monday, seven more alleged moonshiners will be in federal court, facing charges in what has become the most comprehensive moonshine investigation in Appalachia. Twelve people already have pleaded guilty, and only one defendant, Ralph Hale Sr., maintains his innocence.
Investigators hope Operation Lightning Strike, a collaboration of federal and state agents in Virginia and North Carolina, puts a lasting dent in a tradition that has remained strong in the region.
``If it doesn't ... we're in trouble,'' said Jack Allen Powell, 67, a retired agent of Virginia's Alcohol Beverage Control Board. ``As long as there's stuff to ferment, there's someone looking to make moonshine.'
' Authorities estimate that moonshiners produced an estimated 1.5 million gallons of liquor from 1992 to 1999, ducking $19.6 million in federal taxes.
Franklin County, a rural area 200 miles southwest of Richmond where Hale's business allegedly thrived, embraces its moonshining tradition. T-shirts proudly proclaim the county the ``Moonshine Capital of the World.'' A high school wrestling tournament is called the Moonshine Classic. An annual charity race is named the White Lightning Run.
Whiskey first came to the mountains with Scots-Irish settlers, who mixed sugar and yeast into a tough brew. ``Moonshining,'' so named because the clandestine activity was often conducted under cover of darkness, thrived during Prohibition. White lightning flowed into speakeasies and nip joints everywhere.
In the 1950s, just about everyone in rural Virginia kept a little bottle underneath their sinks, said Powell, who wrote a book about moonshine in 1996 called ``A Dying Art.'' The untaxed stuff was cheap. And in the cities, there was just something about illicit home brew that was so much better than the rotgut you'd find in stores.
``But if you ever saw how that stuff is made, you'd never drink it,'' said Bart McEntire, a special agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. ``They were using old truck radiators as stills. They were using water from creeks that cattle walked through.''
Unregulated moonshine has been contaminated with anything from lye to traces of radiator fluid. But the black market continued as people from the South moved above the Mason-Dixon line.
``They never forgot where they came from,'' Powell said. ``There's something about a little bottle of moonshine ... there's a mystique there.''
It's also a cheap way to get drunk at 100 proof, or 50 percent alcohol, and $20 to $30 a gallon, McEntire said.
Authorities allege Hale, believed to be one of the biggest moonshiners in Virginia, made 213,780 gallons of moonshine with his family from 1992 to 1999. In an effort to hide the profits, including $2.9 million in unpaid federal taxes, investigators claim Hale bought property in family members' names and ran a small cattle ranch with his wife.
Hale, 61, his son Ralph Hale Jr., 22, and sister Shirley Hale Whitlow, 53, are accused of illegal production of untaxed liquor, money laundering, and other federal offenses. Hale's wife, Judy, 49, and two others face charges for minor roles in illegal moonshine operations.
Hale's defense attorney, state Sen. W. Roscoe Reynolds, did not return repeated calls to his law firm.
Hale has been arrested at least seven times for moonshining. But Virginia's penalties are minimal — from minor fines and probation to a rarely imposed three years in prison and a $1,000 fine.
What has made Operation Lightning Strike successful is that federal authorities have a wider variety of charges in their arsenal, said Bev Whitmer, a special agent with Virginia ABC based in Roanoke.
If convicted, Hale could face almost a lifetime in jail and millions in fines. Instead of taking their chances in court, most of those snared decided to plead guilty, forfeiting property and cooperating with ongoing investigations against other moonshiners.
The operation has proved decisive in choking off supplies of moonshine, nearly doubling the price of untaxed liquor in some cities. Prices for a case in Philadelphia, for example, have increased in recent years from $65 a case to $100, McEntire said.
``I'm not being naive and telling you that it's gone, though,'' McEntire said. ``There'll always be someone here trying to make a buck.''
Just a little over a half million acres; not even one percent. As the documentation behind the map shows, there are 657 separate areas comprising 208,332,698 Acres.
Just what is a Biosphere Reserve? "Ideally," according to the strategic plan, "each biosphere reserve includes three types of areas: 1) one or more securely 'protected areas,' such as wilderness areas or nature reserves, for conservation and monitoring of minimally disturbed ecosystems; 2) 'Managed Use Areas,' usually surrounding or adjoining the protected areas, where experimental research, educational activities, public recreation, and various economic activities occur according to ecological principles; and 3) 'Zones of Cooperation,' which are open ended areas of cooperation where managing agencies, local governmental agencies, scientists, economic interests, nongovernmental organizations, cultural groups, local citizens and other biosphere reserve stakeholders educate one another in the process of linking conservation, economic development and cultural values." While each Biosphere Reserve is depicted as a dot on the map, the actual area covered by the designation may be vast. For example, the Southern Appalachian Biosphere Reserve spreads out from the "core zone" of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park into a "zone of cooperation" stretching from northeast Alabama to southwestern Virginia.
And all under the guidance and recommended control of the United Nations. Notice what is markedly lacking in item 3) above: THE OWNERS!
Nah,that can't be right.
Before 1982 ,I didn't frown as much on spirits as I do now .If I hadn't had my conversion experience I'd probably been like Granny on the Beverly Hillbillies with my room-i-tizz medicine .
Not to change the topic too much, but I know from personal experience that getting saved and born again does not necessitate abstinance from alcohol. There is no Biblical basis for that view whatsoever.
Anyhow, it's up to you!
Granny;"I've had rheumatism for 60 years and I ain't minded yet.
You're probably right .I guess Jesus felt the same way .
If we post more about these biosphere outrages, as to the threats on our sovereignty; then, maybe some of these people will wake up.
As to the news story it reeks with lies. No self respecting moonshiner would use a truck radiator.
The dollar amounts given are surely lies as well.
This is a land seizure scheme pure and simple.
Nam Vet
Copying two good folks from that area so they can pick up on that other thread, too.
I enjoyed those clips from "Thunder Road".
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