Action shot! The first cold beers for the Hayesville Aztex station. Photo: Clay County Progress
REGIONAL–Many of us who were raised in the mountains spent time taking care of tourists. And part of the responsibility in that line of work is trying to explain alcohol blue laws to people who are baffled by them.
Most of us can’t figure them out, either — whether we agree with them or not — so we usually fall back on general rules of thumb to make travel easier in the hills.
One of these rules is that you can expect laws regarding beer, wine and liquor to change every 100 yards or so. Most counties are dry, while many municipalities within those counties are “damp”, with beer and wine in stores, but not in restaurants, and no liquor; or beer and wine in stores and in restaurants, but liquor in state-run liquor stores only, or sometimes beer and wine in restaurants only, but not in stores. Here and there you can’t buy beer, wine or liquor, but if you have some on you or under the car seat, you can carry it into a restaurant (as long as they have what’s called a “brown bag” permit). Some towns are full-on wet, but not many.
Further complicating matters is a smattering of state laws that allow alcohol at resorts that meet certain size requirements or are near, say, the Blue Ridge Parkway. These were generally pushed through within the past couple of decades by the tourism industry in cahoots with lawmakers who couldn’t get a highball at their favorite backcountry country club.
At any rate, its always an interesting barometer of the times when alcohol laws come up for a vote in the mountains. The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians recently voted to allow alcohol sales in its casino only, and were plenty frank in explaining that it was just another way to relieve gamblers of their cash. But alcohol sales outside the casino? No way.
Even more recently, voters in Clay County — which is the next county west of Macon — voted to allow beer and wine sales. This is slightly more interesting as a sign of changing times, because rural, relatively sparsely populated Clay County is the type of place that would have utterly rejected the notion of alcohol sales on moral grounds a very few decades ago.
Here’s coverage of the vote from the Clay County Progress.
Elsewhere, Editor James Budd at the Graham Star writes that Graham and Yancey counties are western North Carolina’s lone holdouts on the alcohol issue.
An excerpt from his story:
“I guess you could say Graham and Yancey are the only two counties in the state that are smart,” [Robbinsville Alderman Bobby] Smith said. “As long as I have a vote I would be against it. I think it would be bad for the town or the county.”
Commissioner Steve Odom said he’s opposed to the sale of alcoholic beverages in the county.
“I have seen too many personal tragedies come from alcohol use,” Odom said. “Too many families destroyed. I would personally be against alcohol sales in Graham County for those reasons.”
