Kentucky and dry counties (Louisville, Owensboro: best schools, taxes, live)

[rnc76]

Originally Posted by tomocox

As a side note, my eyes did a double take the night I attended a church social event where beer and wine were being sold, while AA was meeting in that same church's basement.

I'm guessing your not Catholic (or Episcopalian or Lutheran). Pretty much my whole family is one of those denominations, and it just isn't a proper church function without a keg. OK, well it isn't that bad but I wouldn't think anything of seeing alcohol at a church function.

[kentuckydad95]

I found an old article from 1988 showing KY and the south as a whole as leading in DUI arrest rates. I am not sure how much things have changed stats wise, but anywho:

SpringerLink - Journal Article

I think the problem is there are a ton of uneducated people in the south and seem to think that the more you keep voting to keep alcohol out, the less drunkeness and dui arrests there will be. The problem with that is that it actually does the opposite.

[JefferyT]

Heres's an old song by the Stanley Brothers on a feature of dry counties...the bootlegger. Now, the Stanleys were from Virginia, so I figure this might have been written by someone in KY, or who was famliar with the situation in this one county...which is probably Breathitt County (unless there is a Brethed County in VA or TENN):

Bootleg John

n the land of Breathed County was raised a crooked man
Made the county dry and the prices high
For the bootleg whiskey man
His age was barely twenty-one, his family was ashamed
They had a son who left his home
For a bootleg whiskey game

Bootleg John won't you come on home
Your family's all alone
You're runnin' wild and your baby child
Wants his daddy home

His wife she loved hime dearly tho' he seldom came around
She'd always cry when he said goodbye
But she never could hold him down
Twelve pistols in his pocket his shotgun on the floor
He made his run to Lexington
To the bootleg whiskey store

His car was full of whiskey, his hand was on his gun
He was set to go but he didn't know
He was makin' his last run
The sheriff pulled him over and he shot the lawman down
They locked him well in the county jail
And the jailer slapped him down

This boolegging stuff was going on as late as the late 1970s as I heard about from classmates and dorm mates while at UK. Supposedly one of these bootleggers even had a postcard made with his pix and him holding a beer can.

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by tomocox

While there are those who might follow Steve, most churches today are filled with educated people who won't just follow a Pied-Piper faith. I think it is odd that the more educated people become, the more they realize just how amazing beliefs become.

Now, let's stop and think for a moment. Maybe this will help some. Can human's in America live without alcohol? Can you tell me of any ruined homes because somebody chose not to drink? Can you tell me of people killed in auto accidents because someone was sober rather than drunk? Maybe you can, but numerically, those very few incidents will be rare.

Now, how many good friends, or acquaintances do you know who have been adversely affected by alcohol? How about the 27 young people and chaparones killed in the I-71 bus crash in 1989 by one man's drinking.

Folks, I am NOT a T-totaller, as I enjoy a glass of wine nearly every day at home, I enjoy a glass of wine or two beers with a pizza, a fine meal, or a gathering, and I love my Woodford Reserve bourbon sipping whiskey.

But alcohol inbibed family members have committed murder-suicide, personal suicide, and death caused by other drunken drivers.

Maybe those preachers have a reason to preach tolerance. As a side note, my eyes did a double take the night I attended a church social event where beer and wine were being sold, while AA was meeting in that same church's basement.

I lived in Lexington at the time of the I-71 crash and remember it well. I can't see though how a county being dry would prevent this type of disaster from occurring. If anything, it promotes more drunks being out on the road to buy booze. I agree though that alcohol has destroyed many lives and I see nothing wrong with the clergy preaching tolerance.

[KerryB]

If thats their bag (to save lives), then they should preach against people's diets & smoking in the area. Cause those alone kill more people than alcohol ever thought about doing. And face it, ya'll aint the healthiest part of the country neither (its one of the worst actually).

So how bout it? Preacher Bob's sermon this sunday gonna be about the evils of fried chicken??

[Central Illinois 1]

Originally Posted by KerryB

If thats their bag (to save lives), then they should preach against people's diets & smoking in the area. Cause those alone kill more people than alcohol ever thought about doing. And face it, ya'll aint the healthiest part of the country neither (its one of the worst actually).

So how bout it? Preacher Bob's sermon this sunday gonna be about the evils of fried chicken??

That would be sac-relig in KY. Preach the evils of booze, sex, drugs, and rock n roll all you want. But dammit leave the chicken alone!!

[johnsonkk]

My original intent was to post an informative (nationwide) update on the concept of dry counties, not a thread bashing on the Bluegrass state.

Here is the link again with some excerpts that show there are dry counties in almost every state in the U.S. Dry county - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Hundreds of dry counties exist across the United States, although most commonly in the South and the state of Utah. A number of smaller jurisdictions also exist, such as cities, towns and townships, which prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages."

"A 2004 survey by the National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association found that over 500 municipalities in the United States are dry, including 83 in Alaska. Almost one half of Mississippi's and Alabama's counties are dry. There are 215 counties in Texas that are either dry or restrict alchol sales. In Florida, five of the 67 counties are dry (they are Lafayette, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, and Washington) all of which are located in the northern part of the state, an area that has cultural ties to the Deep South."

There are others that have dry towns to includes states such as New York, Mass, Penn, Conn, and even Nevada. Then there are seventeen states have laws which preclude the existence of any dry counties.

[tomocox]

I am not against alcohol sales. I am for moderation, and severe and profound punishment for those convicted of alcohol related criminal violations. I agree with the writers who suggest that dry counties/areas are in harms way. I grew up in one of those counties. I have no reason to disagree with alcohol sales, just want people to think about why alcohol was Prohibited...

Btw: the Carrollton bus crash occured because the driver had been to wet Eminence to get a drink, and got on I-71 northbound but in the southbound lanes.... Carrollton & Carroll County were both dry at the time.

[kentuckydad95]

Originally Posted by johnsonkk

My original intent was to post an informative (nationwide) update on the concept of dry counties, not a thread bashing on the Bluegrass state.

You should have known better.

The guy that caused the bus crash, did he happen to live in a dry county?

[tomocox]

Originally Posted by kentuckydad95

You should have known better.

The guy that caused the bus crash, did he happen to live in a dry county?

Yes, he did. Please note my post right above yours.