Austin Rules to Obey (Corpus Christi, Hutto: living in, law, legal)

[austifornian]

Yall should pay a visit to a dry county, of which there are still 50 or so of in TX. In these counties you can't purchase alcohol at all. There is an exemption for 'private clubs' so in order to purchase alcohol you have to buy a membership in the 'club'. The membership dues just happen to be the cost of a drink and with your membership you get one free drink.

Not only that, you can actually be popped for bootlegging (intent to sell alcohol) if you are in possession of more than a quart of alcohol or a case of beer (per person) in a dry county.

[statefan]

I found out something really interesting this past weekend, but it is not necessarily an Austin rule either. Car dealerships are not allowed to sell cars on Sundays! They are permitted to be open but cannot actually sell the car!

It appears this is a "Blue Law" which restricts certain activities on Sunday, to accomodate the Christian Sabbath. And most of these Blue Laws were established many decades ago. The restriction of alcohol sales is also one of these laws.

[atxcio]

Yes, the car dealership thing is part of the old blue laws. I think it has been modified though, so it now just mandates that a car dealership must be closed 1 weekend day each week. It's traditionally Sunday, but you'll sometimes you'll see ads where the dealership says it will be closed Saturday, to be open on Sunday for a sale or something..

Also, those laws keep places like Spec's and Grapevine Market from being open on Sunday. Although they sell gourmet food and other items, because they carry alcohol the whole store must be closed Sunday.

Of course, you should have seen Texas back when the blue laws were in full effect. Pretty much all retail (except grocery stores) had to shut down on Sunday. And grocery stores, as someone pointed out, had to rope off much of their merchandise on Sunday. You could buy milk, but couldn't buy a pot or pan, flashlight, or batteries.

I think much of the pressure to repeal the laws came from big box retailers and grocery chains, wanting to be open on Sunday... the Mom & Pop stores were perfectly fine with the blue laws, since it gave them a day off. I think car dealerships may have held out because they are usually owned by a local family.

Also, although I've heard of dry counties, I remember dry cities. When I was living in the DFW area, Garland was a completely dry city (but in Dallas county).. you needed a club membership to drink in restaurants (only beer and wine btw), and no store could sell alcohol of any kind, ever. You had to drive to Plano, or (later) Buckingham. I remember when Buckingham, a tiny city adjacent to Richardson / Garland became "wet". It was a city of only a couple of blocks, and it's entire economy became a couple of big liquor stores. It might still be like that, although I believe Garland has relaxed their laws and now you can buy beer and wine at grocery stores...

[achtungpv]

Originally Posted by atxcio

Also, although I've heard of dry counties, I remember dry cities. When I was living in the DFW area, Garland was a completely dry city (but in Dallas county).. you needed a club membership to drink in restaurants (only beer and wine btw), and no store could sell alcohol of any kind, ever.

Wimberley is in a dry precinct. You join a restaurant's club for a $1 lifetime membership if you want to order a beer.

[texastea]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

They were probably misinformed or the restaurant had an in house policy on alcohol (which is quite possible). On the other hand, I am not sure what taking it from you would accomplish....did they reimburse you?

No, they didn't reimburse us...we were in shock and my daughter was horrified so we just dropped it. I abreviated the story before, but when the waitress came over my daughter was handing the drink back to her dad. She asked her for her ID and my daughter said the drink was her dad's. The waitress said it didn't matter and that she had to take the drink. She took it from my husband and walked off. Must've been an in-house rule...we were thinking they may have gotten in trouble recently and were being extra careful.

[atlanta hope]

Originally Posted by 10scoachrick

Now, don't you want to go to a dedicated supplier for your distilled spirits??? Some place with professionals who really know their hooch?

South Carolina used to have annual vehicle safety inspections...makes more sense than the emissions tests we have in ATL(strictly tied to Fed $ rather than any program to actually keep the air somewhat clean). Amazing how many vehicles are out there with no brake lights, one headlamp, etc. Never mind the boy-racers who buy a car just old enough to avoid emissions tests and then remove cats and mufflers so their 20 year-old Mitsu 'sounds' like it has an engine.

Don't forget the "tag applied for" tag!

[readymade]

Whatever happened to the separation of church & state? Freaks me out that they're making political laws based on one particular religion. Not everyone is christian. And what does drinking have to do with religion, anyway?

What I'd like to know is do they sell guns on Sunday? If they do, that's hysterical!

[HappyTexan]

Blue Laws are pretty old and are pretty much phased out. Some places still have them to a degree.

Separation of Church and State means something different today than it did 30-40 years ago.

[Trainwreck20]

I think the liquor laws are more about letting the panhandler's liver have one day of rest.

[GANKS]

Wow, dry counties, drive thru liquor stores (I saw one the other day near round rock and can't find it now), no alcohol sales on Sundays, minors drinking with parents - and I thought Utah had the weirdest liquor laws in the nation...