Willie Bright, D-4th Metro District has pledged to reintroduce a proposal after Jan. 1 to allow package liquor sales on Sunday. It's rare that I find myself aligned with a Democrat but, I must say, way to go, Willie!
I moved back to Louisville in 2001 after 17 years on the Left coast and was shocked back into a century I thought had long passed when I wandered out on one of my first Sundays back in town to procure a bottle of Chardonnay to have with dinner. I was stumped when confronted with a store that had everything cordoned off but the beer section. After the brief and chuckle-ridden explanation from the clerk that I was "back in the Bible belt," I realized that my a glass of wine on Sunday now required planning ahead. However, if I'd like to buy a truckload of beer, then I could just get my little party started!
This attitude that beer is okay but everything else is off limits on Sunday has always baffled me. Especially when you can plop your sorry arse down at a local restaurant's bar and drink yourself silly on a Sunday anyway. Not that you have to buy any food at the restaurant, mind you. Who decided that beer was okay to buy in a package store on Sunday but no other type of alcoholic beverage? Can't a six-pack of beer kill just about the same number of brain cells as a bottle of wine? Hello?... logic, anyone? Well, apparently, we're not in for any logic from Howard Beauman of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems:
"Howard Beauman, executive director of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems, formerly the Temperance League, said yesterday that "there is no reason to expand the hours of sales." "It would increase consumption and mean more drunk drivers and all the problems that go along with it," Beauman said. "
For the record, Mr. Beauman, I can procure as many super-sized Whoppers with fries as I like on a Sunday but that doesn't mean that I intend to stuff my face specifically on a Sunday in an attempt to reach obesity. To suggest that, just because something is now available on an extra day of the week, people will now behave more recklessly than they would be inclined to do on any other day is simply absurd. More to the point, if a person has a problem with alcohol, that problem doesn't go away on Sunday and, lo and behold, beer is available anyway! Not to mention the fact that purchases of our choice of alcohol are available on Saturday for those of us who are forced into prior planning.
Let's get real, Mr. Beauman. This ordinance is really simply about whether or not we have to continue to plan ahead for liquor purchases. Prohibiting sales on Sunday simply means more planning. It does not mean less consumption, Mr. Beauman. Maybe in your world people have to have their options taken away so as not to choose something you find sinful on a specific day of your choice. In your world, maybe adults need to have their hands slapped on Sunday to remind them that you're watching out for them. In my world, Mr. Beauman, adults are encouraged to choose for themselves. Many of us were raised to do so wisely on a regular basis.
It's time to let go of the Carry Nation mentality. Can we please take some action that allows this city to move forward for a change and stop letting the logic-challenged drag us backward? I am a proud Conservative. As such, I encourage personal responsibility, not the babysitting nanny-state that prohibits personal choices. I encourage the Louisville Metro Council to take the nonsense out of their votes on this ordinance when it is reintroduced after the holidays. Let's get this one passed, ladies and gentlemen.
Hat tip: our buddy, Genghis!
I moved back to Louisville in 2001 after 17 years on the Left coast and was shocked back into a century I thought had long passed when I wandered out on one of my first Sundays back in town to procure a bottle of Chardonnay to have with dinner. I was stumped when confronted with a store that had everything cordoned off but the beer section. After the brief and chuckle-ridden explanation from the clerk that I was "back in the Bible belt," I realized that my a glass of wine on Sunday now required planning ahead. However, if I'd like to buy a truckload of beer, then I could just get my little party started!
This attitude that beer is okay but everything else is off limits on Sunday has always baffled me. Especially when you can plop your sorry arse down at a local restaurant's bar and drink yourself silly on a Sunday anyway. Not that you have to buy any food at the restaurant, mind you. Who decided that beer was okay to buy in a package store on Sunday but no other type of alcoholic beverage? Can't a six-pack of beer kill just about the same number of brain cells as a bottle of wine? Hello?... logic, anyone? Well, apparently, we're not in for any logic from Howard Beauman of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems:
"Howard Beauman, executive director of the Kentucky League on Alcohol and Gambling Problems, formerly the Temperance League, said yesterday that "there is no reason to expand the hours of sales." "It would increase consumption and mean more drunk drivers and all the problems that go along with it," Beauman said. "
For the record, Mr. Beauman, I can procure as many super-sized Whoppers with fries as I like on a Sunday but that doesn't mean that I intend to stuff my face specifically on a Sunday in an attempt to reach obesity. To suggest that, just because something is now available on an extra day of the week, people will now behave more recklessly than they would be inclined to do on any other day is simply absurd. More to the point, if a person has a problem with alcohol, that problem doesn't go away on Sunday and, lo and behold, beer is available anyway! Not to mention the fact that purchases of our choice of alcohol are available on Saturday for those of us who are forced into prior planning.
Let's get real, Mr. Beauman. This ordinance is really simply about whether or not we have to continue to plan ahead for liquor purchases. Prohibiting sales on Sunday simply means more planning. It does not mean less consumption, Mr. Beauman. Maybe in your world people have to have their options taken away so as not to choose something you find sinful on a specific day of your choice. In your world, maybe adults need to have their hands slapped on Sunday to remind them that you're watching out for them. In my world, Mr. Beauman, adults are encouraged to choose for themselves. Many of us were raised to do so wisely on a regular basis.
It's time to let go of the Carry Nation mentality. Can we please take some action that allows this city to move forward for a change and stop letting the logic-challenged drag us backward? I am a proud Conservative. As such, I encourage personal responsibility, not the babysitting nanny-state that prohibits personal choices. I encourage the Louisville Metro Council to take the nonsense out of their votes on this ordinance when it is reintroduced after the holidays. Let's get this one passed, ladies and gentlemen.
Hat tip: our buddy, Genghis!
Comments
Louisville's Sunday beer law is no different than Lexington's law preventing residents from carrying an ice cream cone in one's pocket.
Up with personal responsability!