My local paper the other day had an article about my old hometown of Perry and how they're proposing an ordinance that will allow restaurants to sell alcohol on Sundays. It's causing quite a debate there, with all the bible-thumpers fighting against it tooth and nail.
(I'd post the text of the article but the paper's online version charges for access to the archives and I didn't copy it at the time)
Y'all it's just ridiculous. The Witnesses don't have a lock on stupid rules. Georgia's prohibition on Sunday alcohol sales (and the other states that have blue laws) is nothing but an outdated religious law that goes directly against "separation of church and state". I sent a letter to the paper, which will probably be published because they usually publish what I send in, saying that. The churches are free to tell their members not to buy alcohol on Sundays but I'm not a member of any church so just where the hell do they get off telling me that I can't buy a six-pack on Sunday? The law certainly doesn't stop consumption of alcohol on Sunday. People just stock up on Saturday. Or if they run out they just go to any of the "Sunday beer stores". One of which happens to be a very popular one right across the street from a Kingdom Hall in Macon. That store sells more beer on Sunday than anything else, just about everyone you see coming out of that store on Sunday has a large brown paper bag in hand.
Georgia law does allow for cities and towns to permit restaurants to sell alcohol by the drink on Sundays. But that has to pass by a local referendum and for a restaurant to serve on Sunday, a certain percentage of their revenue has to come from food. I don't know how Atlanta is but when I went to Savannah a couple of years ago it was pretty cool. All the bars on River Street were open and serving at like 11 am. Didn't look like it hurt the community at all to me, not the doom and gloom and fire and brimstone that the bible-thumpers would have you believe.
I've seen too many times folks from out of state go into a convenience store on a Sunday to buy beer. When the cashier says "we can't sell alcohol on Sunday in Georgia" you should see the looks on the visitors' faces. They can't believe it. Usually there's remarks made that include the words "hicks" and "backwards".
Personally, I just stock up Saturday. If I forget or run outI just drive up to Morgan's across the street from the Kingdom Hall. Mrs. Morgan knows me and doesn't gouge me too bad. ($13 for a 12-pack of Miller Lite).
But I'll tell you something folks. We're in the twenty-first century here. Georgia hosted the olympics last millenium, we've got legal gambling in the form of the state lottery, we've got nude dancing, even prostitution (yeah, that sign doesn't really mean massage). But to this day you still can't buy a six-pack on Sunday because the Baptists say so. What the Baptists (ok, and other denominations) are forgetting is that they don't run this state anymore. The insurance companies and big corporations do.
Mike.