Prohibition Persists In Alabama, Don't Bet On Any Changes!

I have lived in Alabama my entire life and there are a variety of things which piss me off. One of them is the fact that I can't buy beer in Walker Co.

Jefferson Co., the county where Birmingham is located, has changed the rules of buying beer on Sunday by allowing sales after traditional church hours, which is a step in the right direction.

Jefferson Co. is where I grew up. As an adult (sic) I have moved to Shelby Co. then on to Walker Co. where I now reside. Shelby Co. has adopted similar rules as Jefferson but Walker Co. is a dry county with two exception cities where, in the past, the church has used political maneuvers to get laws passed to force the people to live by what they believe. I believe that is unconstitutional. Was prohibition repealed in 1933?

One persons rights end where another persons begins! I believe I begin to have a right to buy and drink a beer, have one, hold one, sip one or pour it on the floor at anytime my eyes are open. I live in Walker Co. Alabama where I must drive to Jefferson Co. line or one of the two exception cities to get beer. If you were to ask the general public, why is alcohol illegal in Walker Co.? The response 9 out of 10 times will be spoken in hick language, "We don't want no drunk drivers here it will only attract the undesirables." I happen to know for a fact due to my experiences with people driving that there are in fact the same amount of drunk drivers if not more on the roads of Walker Co.

My rights are completely taken away by someone because it is deemed by them as something I should not do or that it is, "Time for Church."

I don't have a problem with church and the good people who attend, but I have rights to to a beer on Sunday just as they do to peaceably assemble. I reserve having a cool beer for appropriate times. I deem the time appropriate and keep that as my personal rule without forcing it on anyone. Under normal conditions I don't have beer in the morning, but if I work a night shift Saturday and want a beer at 8 AM Sunday morning when I get home from a long shift I should have access to purchasing a beer on my way home.

I can throw a rock, in any direction from where I reside, when it stops rolling it will be in the proximity of someone I can get marijuana, prescription pills, crack cocaine or meth amphetamine from.

I can hear your ignorant responses to that statement, " Why don't you arrest them you're the police and you know they are doing it?"

First of all it is not my job as a patrolman to arrest someone for something I know they are doing. I must witness a crime occur in order to take action, then I must prove it happened in a court of law by recording facts and gathering evidence to be presented to a judge or jury.

Second and most important, they have rights which I can't take away or infringe upon without just cause. After all, it isn't illegal to be high or drunk in your own home. One cannot legally distribute narcotics from a home, but those transactions will occur inside the residence preventing me from witnessing the crime.

The way I see things in this perspective and my knowledge of rights is the dope peddlers have rights bestowed upon them by the constitution to keep the police from gaining too much power with the checks and balances system which effectively prevents action being taken by just "knowing" something illegal has transpired behind closed doors. That's fine and logical to me.

All I want is a beer on Sunday if I wish to have one. It is a legal substance according to other state laws and the 21st amendment to the U.S Constitution ratified by Alabama on August 8, 1933.

I can't buy one bottle of beer from the same guy selling rolling papers and glass pipes in Walker Co. because someone who goes to church thinks I should not do what I want to do with my money which violates my rights bestowed upon me by the constitution.

I suppose it would be easier to take a chance, buy some lottery tickets, move out of Alabama to Louisiana in hopes of a better life and a beer. Taking a chance has been dubbed a gamble. I can't leave, gambling is also illegal in Alabama!

Now, it seems the same folks who wish us to not consume alcohol on church day and are against us gambling with our money seem to think they are in control of our money and can tell us what to do with it and where to spend it. They will concede to us that we can do what we like with our money and spend it where and when we want as long as it is done how they say. That battle has raged since Alabama became the 22 nd state Decmber 14, 1819 .

Since the 1980s the players in the gambling debate have been mainly Milton Mcgregor, the Choctaw Tribe of Indians in Mississippi and various Alabama governors. The latest and current is Bob Riley. Milton wants gambling legalized in Alabama and the Indians do not. They want ignorant Alabamians to continue to cross state lines to gamble, and they do in droves, spending millions of dollars that could be regulated in Alabama. I know from past experience and people that I know, there are more "Bookies" in Alabama than in Nevada. That money is also not regulated. Why does Alabama continue to prohibit, unsuccessfully, alcohol sales and gambling? It goes on every day in every county and every city or town whether legal or illegal.

Why not take advantage of the money being spent by the millions? Your wisdom and high morality does not save a lost soul by making things inconvenient!

Now, news has hit the streets that the Governor's gambling Czar has been caught with his pants down over in Mississippi. David Barber, whom on more than one occasion I have sat next to while testifying to a grand jury , the long time District Attorney of Jefferson Co. turned gambling Czar was followed to a casino in Mississippi where he won a jackpot of $2300.

He was anointed Czar only after the Attorney General of Alabama Troy King turned down the position.

The Governor is now using the police power of state government in an effort to take a legal business by force using 100 Alabama State Troopers. Can we say, "The funds will stop flowing from Mississippi if you don't make a move now."

I dislike this whole clouded issue because I know the Governor is not acting for the rule of law, but for the rule of a fat wallet and campaign funds.