Blue laws in a red state; Sundays in Georgia
It's Sunday...you've just gone for a bike ride, enjoyed the outdoors, now you're ready to relax with a cold one with your friends...you drive to the closest gas station to pick up your brew and BAM!!! The beer section is closed because it is Sunday. I'm sure Georgia isn't the only state where this happens. I remember visiting Minneapolis once and asking if you could buy beer there on Sunday...the guy behind the counter almost busted a gut laughing at me "Of course, this is Minnesota!" It's almost embarrassing that "The Lord's Day" carries so much weight in Georgia. The only way one may partake in alcohol on Sunday in Georgia is to go to a restaurant or bar. Of course, restaurants at lunch time are bombarded with fundies (who I'm told by wait-staff aren't good tippers), thereby leading beer-loving atheists to hole-up in some bar. What's worse...Georgia has "dry counties" where no alcohol is even sold at stores. I'm no alcoholic (yet!) but if I want a beer I want a beer. Often liquor licenses are ridiculously expensive, while the no-tax-paying churches who hypnotize their parishioners into voting by verdict of pulpit levy these taxes on said drinking establishments. That, my friends, is some sanctimonious bullshit.
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Comment by Gaytor on May 31, 2010 at 11:38am -
Lynden Washington, the "city" to the east of where I grew up didn't sell alcohol on Sunday's, didn't allow dancing, you had to have 20 parking spaces available per barstool, and it was illegal to mow your lawn on Sundays.
They recently repealed the no alcohol because the city has grown out. So the Safeway just outside of town sold alcohol which took business away from the store in town. The restaurants would see business on Sunday's drop way below that of their competitors in the adjacent towns. So eventually money and business overruled Biblical interpretation.
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Comment by Shawn P. on May 31, 2010 at 11:59am -
"didn't allow dancing"? Gaytor, where'd the hell you grow up? Sounds like the basis for Footloose. Maybe I shouldn't bitch so much. I do find it funny that the no alcohol law was repealed when when it took business away from the town, that's typical. Instead of god taking care of them like he "considered the sparrow", sound capitalism reigned.
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Comment by NO RELIGION on May 31, 2010 at 12:44pm -
@GAYTOR What do you mean "20 parking spaces per barstool"?
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Comment by Dave G on May 31, 2010 at 12:47pm -
A study done by economists Jonathan Gruber of MIT and Daniel Hungerman of the University of Notre Dame found that repealing blue laws tended to cause a drop in church attendance. (and an increase in drinking, go figure) Now wonder they want to keep them going.
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Comment by Todd on May 31, 2010 at 2:22pm -
Would it be wrong to start a religion which commands that everyone drink a beer on Sunday? Maybe with a prohibition that forbids you from buying it before sunrise on the holy sabbath. That way, we could all sue the pants off of any city council that violates our freedom to worship.
But, please. Don't start teaching that beer is a bodily fluid of some ancient deity because that's just gross. Leave that kind of weirdness to the catholics.
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Comment by Joe O'Brien on May 31, 2010 at 3:40pm -
Alcohol laws in this country are so irregular and nonsensical. In MD, unlike our neighboring states, you can only buy alcohol in liquor stores and not on sundays (at least in Baltimore City, I hear it varies county to county making it even more confusing). However a lot of bars are also "packaged goods" stores which means they can still sell alcohol on sundays just like a regular liquor store. I have no idea how this makes sense.
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Comment by Gaytor on May 31, 2010 at 4:33pm
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@ No Religion, If you were to apply for a business license to sell alcohol within the city limits, and you have 10 barstools available, you have to provide 200 parking spaces for cars. It's a way to make it not economically viable.
@ Shawn, the whole Footloose story was awfully familiar. We all thought that it was about Lynden growing up. I lived in the town for almost three years. Nice little Dutch town to drive through. But if you didn't mow your lawn, they'd mow it for you and send you a bill. It was very controlled. My only issue in town was with an older couple. I had two vehicles and a one car garage. So I'd park my truck on the street. The old couple didn't want me parking in front of their house as if they owned the street. The cops eventually told them to get a life.
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Comment by Galen on May 31, 2010 at 8:40pm -
As a fellow Georgian, let me also add that the "no beer on Sundays" crap doesn't actually stop anybody from drinking on Sundays. Every person I know who drinks beer goes out on Saturday and stocks up for Sunday. I've never seen figures for alcohol sales in Georgia, but I'd bet a six pack that if you saw a run down of sales by day of the week, you'd see a big spike on Saturday. And I'd bet another six pack that if you did the math, the spike on Saturday would MORE than make up for the gap on Sunday. If anything, the blue laws are causing people to drink MORE on Sundays!
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Comment by Brady on May 31, 2010 at 8:51pm -
Wow, laws in Georgia must really suck. We're a lot more lenient with our alcohol policies over here in the West (except in Utah :P).
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Comment by Greg Gorey on May 31, 2010 at 9:01pm -
Brady, actually Georgia is fine. That law just sucks.
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