If Your Russian is Weak, It Says "Baltica Beer - No One Here Gets Out Alive."
This year, there aren't just candidates on the ballot November 4th. There will be another initiative vote, but unlike the Penny Tax two years ago, this one will not voluntarily cost you money. It's a vote on whether to allow alcohol sales on Sunday...
In case you didn't know it, Florence County doesn't allow alcohol retail sales from midnight Saturday until Monday - which is why you never can find Earl Capps in Florence on Sunday. As effective an Earl deterrent as it is, there are a lot of people - led by the local hospitality groups - that would like to see some extra duckets come their way on God's day.
Now, I'll preface this by saying a couple things. I like beer. I like wine. I like a nice Gin & Tonic while I listen to my Sammy Davis Jr. records and smoke a fat stogie, yelling "Cha-boing, boing! Cha-boing, boing" all the while.... And yes, I have gotten caught in the Sunday no beer famine once or twice. When I first got to SC, i invited everyone to my house for football. I went to The Pig, grabbed a case, and got stonewalled at the registered. I called all my buds to gather whatever beer they had in their fridges - and no one showed up...I ate Chicken- Broccoli casserole for a month.........
However, for the most part, I don't have a problem with not beign able to buy beer on Sunday. I don't know if it's a ploy by the religious right to make sure that the parishoners aren't hung over for Sunday Service - or some interpretation of the Bible applying to it. Enter your favorite quotes from Leviticus here..... There are some people who look at Florence as ass-backwards for having rules like this, but I find it charming. It's what makes us still a bit small-town.
I am a bit of a Libertarian when it comes to personal freedoms, and this law doesn't totally apply to that argument. You can drink on Sunday still, and if yo want to go out for a beer, join a club with a private membership. There are only about 50 of them in town. This vote is - like most things - is being pushed by a few select businesspeople who are trying to tell you that your rights are being violated, who end up profiting from it. Also, I don't know the statistics on automotive deaths from 8am to 12 midnight Sunday, but I imagine they are lower during that time.
Personally, I have a very tight schedule on Sunday, and drinking isn't one of them. I have enough co-workers who can't show up for work on Monday with the law as it is..... I will be voting no. But, if you disagree, I don't blame you. Just don't do anything stupid afterwards....
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8 comments:
That's not entirely true. I just wouldn't stick around there for long.
I vote no too. I will leave it at that! :)
No matter your stance on this issue, the real problem here, is the way they ramrodded this thing through.
As someone who has already voted for Sunday sales, I have a real problem with the fact that the opponents of this thing were not given adequate time to bring their concerns to the public's attention. They have a legitimate point about questioning just how much this will benefit the city financially, when the extra cost of public safety services are factored in.
They had the second reading of this ordinance in, I think, within two weeks of its proposal. Same thing they did with the recent ordinance about nonpartisan elections (although that was only 1 week). That means they are having special sessions for these things. Why?
It's pretty clear this city council doesn't want the city to actually know what the hell is going on in their city. And they certainly don't want to allow those who oppose their ideas an opportunity to make their case.
I've seen the daze when a resturant opened in Columbia as a private club to accomodate a crowd that enjoyed a bloody mary or a mimosa with breakfast or brunch on Sunday after Mass or other Sunday services; though the same folks weren't well heeled enough to join the country club set that had the same deal running in their club's dining room.
I'll grant there have been a few dives operating as private clubs that sent more sixpacks out the door on Sunday than served at the bar and I've no doubt that the convenience stores and grocery stores might covet those sales, yet they're no real competition on the other weekdays.
Maybe Florence and Darlington have sufficient tourist business, which was one of the older criteria for allowing a county to lift the permutations of the state blue laws, but for me, Florence's being wet on Sunday is a local issue.
pluv, welcome grasshopper to the ways of the ancient council... EVERYTHING is done in closed or special session. County Council is the same way. When I ran, I said that closed session should be ended, and they other members wanted to kill me, like it's the only way to do business....
The Sabbath is actually Saturday, so vote yes and drink up Johnny.
So bobbo, Ve should close the bars at sunset on Friday and reopen at sunset on Saturday to follow the Sabbat you suggest?
This would be safer for Friday night High School Football games, though in keeping with the sabbat law, those ought to be pushed back to Thursday nights.
Belated Shana Tova Mikechick!
glad i do not vote in flo town we need this on the ballot at davis station
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