It’s been 75 years since the states ratified the twenty-first amendment and it’s hard to imagine that despite our own misgivings we’d still want to impose our opinions of alcohol upon the other members of our communities. Specifically, it’s hard to imagine that any one of us would try to tell someone they shouldn’t be allowed to buy alcohol. However, we don’t have to look too far to find such nonsense. White County Georgia has a proposed referendum on the ballot which reads:
Question 7: Shall the White County Board of Commissioners provide for the sale of beer and wine in the unincorporated areas of White County?
How can anyone in White County be against the sale of beer and wine (the referendum does not include the sale of liquor)? It seems that the religious elite are the ones leading the charge against the legalization of beer and wine sales for the county. Michael Wilkes of Helen (one of the few places that sell alcohol in White County by the way) is the chairman of the Citizens for Continued Family Values has stated his intentions of fighting the referendum through radio advertisements and even yard signs. He is quoted as saying “more alcohol will bring harm to the family . . . we’re doing this for the families”. In a classic five paragraph essay I will present three arguments in favor of passing the referendum. I don’t expect my arguments to change the outcome of Tuesday’s vote . . . it’s a little late for that plus I don’t have any exposure to the voters and I don’t live in White County Georgia. Plus, I’d be surprised if this even gets read within a few months’ time.
The first reason to pass the referendum is that the fact that White County is dry is not preventing alcohol from getting into the county. According to Commissioner Nonnemaker, county-line stores in Hall County, a bordering county to the south, have some of the highest sales in Georgia. Undoubtedly, White County residents are stopping at these stores on their commutes home or even making special trips to the county line. Furthermore, Frances Gloria “Amy” Fortenberry of Gainesville (also Hall County) died in a campsite off River Road No. 44 of the Chattahoochee National Forest in White County of an “apparent asphyxiation due to an alcohol overdose”. She was 16 years old, unable to buy alcohol for herself anyway . . . peer pressure’s a real bitch. Don’t think her case is isolated. If memory serves White County has always been a Mecca for high school kids looking to have a good weekend of mud-bogging or drinking. As a matter of fact, John Wayne Gunter, 17, died on May 1, 2008, also in White County. Two individuals were indicted on charges of involuntary manslaughter and furnishing alcohol to an underage person. If you look at the Citizens for Continued Family Values’ website you will see that, according to the White County Sheriff’s office, from 1999 to 2007 DUI arrests in the county went from roughly 0 (zero) to roughly 140 per year. Might it be that people are driving longer distances for alcohol and thereby increasing the exposure to drinking and driving than they otherwise would if a 6-pack could be bought from a store only five minutes away? Furthermore, who wants to go pick up a friend that’s had the proverbial one too many when they know they’re going to have to leave the county to do so?
Point number 2: Is it any of Michael Wilkes’s (or anyone’s for that matter) business what a family decides to do if they are not endangering each other’s well-being or anyone else’s well-being? All Wilkes has the right to do is advise his OWN family as to what is good and bad for them. On the Citizens for Continued Family Values (CFCFV) website there is a quote that says,
Families will not move to your area because you have good restaurants, or because you have liquor by the drink, they will come because it is a good, safe place to raise and educate their families.
Arguably, good restaurants won’t be a sole attractant for immigration but I think it’s safe to say that it couldn’t hurt. As for safety, well we’ve already established the exponential growth in DUI arrests over a period of 9 years for White County. I didn’t research any of the crime rates for the county but I did briefly research education. According to the Department of Education White County did NOT meet the adequate yearly progress and 32.2% of the students did not meet the AYP for mathematics! To be fair, only 6.6% didn’t meet the AYP for English Language Arts so at least the majority can speak their native languages, if a little grammatically awkward. Of the six neighboring counties all but one met the AYP. Five counties are “wet” and only one is “dry”. The county that failed to meet the AYP was not the dry county. Judging from this small scale research it stands to reason that being wet or dry has no effect on education. So, given the CFCFV site’s quote, what reason has anyone got to move to this area? The roads are not exactly safe (at least in an alarmist’s point-of-view), they have few restaurants (as compared to many neighboring communities), no “liquor by the drink”, and deplorable education. I know that Wilkes and the like would counter my point with the following:
Wet counties had 121% more murder, 326% more robberies, 142% more negligent manslaughter, 90% more weapons violations, 426% more disorderly, and 106% more drunkenness.
That quote can be found on the CFCFV website and it cites the source of those figures with a vague “1998-99 study”. Oh, and that quote was taken directly from http://www.noalcohol.us/noalcohol/resources/noalcohol_1.phtml, a religious site promoting prohibition. I would be curious to know what kind of sample this study used in regards to wet counties. Did they use all wet counties across the U.S. or metropolitan counties or rural or a mix thereof? I don’t have any figures on how many wet counties there were in 1998 and 1999 but I imagine that it was substantial as compared to dry counties. Statistically speaking, it makes perfect sense that these figures would be higher for wet counties. The No Alcohol site failed to cite the source of the study except for the vague “1998-99 study” as the CFCFV site did.
My third, and final, point is revenue loss. I can hear the anti-capitalists sharpening their axes already. A portion of the sales of county-line stores could be going to stores inside White County were it not dry. By being dry, White County is forfeiting licensing fees as well as local sales tax resulting from alcohol sales. The licensing fees themselves could earn the county as much as $100,000 per year. The county might be a more attractive area for a business venture if a newly sprung restaurant could sell alcohol along with its meals. It could spur progress in the business sector and provide jobs. Increased revenue streams and/or a higher demand for capital could help local banks reestablish a firm footing or maybe even encourage new banks to enter the area. More recreational activities could very well have a positive effect on immigration and be a driving force in increasing property values. If “family values” is really what is keeping alcohol out of White County let the free market prove it. If residents disapprove of wine and beer sales no one will be forcing them to buy any. Let them make their decisions to abstain (or continue running to those county-line stores) and make the sale of alcohol unprofitable in White County. Merchants would eventually discontinue the products and any new package stores would close their doors if they weren’t producing enough sales.
In closing, I’d like to ask for what families does Michael Wilkes claim to be leading this charge against alcohol. It is obviously good enough for his family living in Helen, one of only a few wet areas in White County. Why is it okay in Helen, Unicoi Lodge, and Smithgall Woods Conference Center and not the rest of White County? Preventing the sale of alcohol in the unincorporated areas is not keeping alcohol out or controlling DUI arrest or preventing teens from binge drinking in the campgrounds. You’d also think that with alcohol in the county Michael Wilkes expects White County to experience a moral degradation into a modern day Sodom or Gomorrah. I find that a far cry from reality. Let’s look half way around the world at some dry countries: Libya, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and Sudan to name a few. Any one of these countries could be argued to have more civil unrest than any of our wet counties here in the U.S. Furthermore, if the CFCFV is really striving for progress through immigration as the website implies wouldn’t it make sense to loosen certain restrictions that are no doubt an impetus to business development. People aren’t going to move into an area if there are no jobs available. There would be no jobs available unless there is emigration creating vacancies or businesses expanding their operations or new businesses entering the area. As a matter of fact, the expected $100,000 received from alcohol licensing alone would be enough to pay three sheriff’s deputies’ annual salaries. I believe that Michael Wilkes’ and the CFCFV’s logic for preventing the sale of alcohol is extremely biased and any of their “research” appears to be incredibly flawed. In all cases to introduce alcohol sales (just beer and wine in this case) it has been met with opposition from the religious community. The churches find it necessary to impose their will against every citizen in the county whether the citizens agree or not.
References:
- White County residents will decide on alcohol sales by Harris Blackwood. Posted October 13, 2008.
- The Times Wednesday, October 29, 2008 “White County voters face 7 ballot questions by Debbie Gilbert, 1A; 3A.
- Teenager dies of apparent alcohol overdose at White County Website by Kristen Mangum. Posted October 16, 2008.
- Citizens for Continued Family Values website
- Department of Education
- God’s Word from the Bible on Alcohol Scriptures
