Dry county
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A "dry county" is a county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of alcoholic beverages. There are hundreds of dry counties across the United States, although they are most common in the South and Mid-West. There are also smaller jurisdictions which prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages, such as dry towns. Although the 21st Amendment repealed the prohibition of alcohol, it specifically prohibits the selling or production of alcohol in violation of local laws. Some local governments that had passed local laws with respect to alcohol during Prohibition never re-legalized the sale of alcohol, maintaining a "dry" market.[1] Many of these counties and towns do not generally prohibit its consumption. Thus, they lose the profits and taxes from the sale of alcohol to their residents to "wet" or non-prohibition areas. The rationale for maintaining prohibition on the local level is often religious in nature, as many Protestant Christian denominations discourage the consumption of alcohol by their followers (see Christianity and alcohol). Similar laws designed to restrict the sale and consumption of alcohol are also common in the Mormon-dominated state of Utah. An additional more pragmatic intent of these laws is often to reduce alcohol consumption in that particular county (and the potential health, safety, and public order issues that can accompany it) by limiting the ease of acquiring it.
A 2004 survey by the National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association found over 500 municipalities in the United States to be dry, including 83 in Alaska. Almost one-half of Mississippi's counties are dry. Its alcohol laws are similarly complex. It is also illegal to transport unopened containers of alcohol across any dry county in the state.[1] In Florida, five out of 67 counties are dry, all of which are located in the northern part of the state, an area that has cultural ties to the Deep South.
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[edit] Dry counties in Alabama
Alabama has 26 dry counties[1]. Within those 26 counties, 16 city governments have legalized alcohol sales inside their city limits.
- In order for an Alabama city or county to hold a wet-dry vote, 25% of the voters in the preceding general election must sign a petition requesting a vote[2]. Petitions can be made to go from dry to wet or wet to dry.
- In dry counties, it is illegal to transport more than 1 case of beer and 3 quarts of liquor[3].
[edit] Dry counties in Texas
Of Texas' 254 counties, 44 are completely dry and 169 are partially dry or "moist". The patchwork of laws can be confusing, even to residents. In some counties, only 4% beer is legal. In others, beverages that are 14% or less alcohol are legal. In some "dry" areas, a customer can get a mixed drink by paying to join a "private club," and in some "wet" areas a customer needs a club membership to get liquor-by-the-drink, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The newspaper demonstrates how variable the alcohol laws can be, even within small geographic areas. "Move from Fort Worth to Arlington and you’ll be surprised that you can buy beer but not wine at the grocery store. Move to Grand Prairie and you can’t even find beer there, but you can buy alcoholic drinks at restaurants in both towns. Then move to Burleson, which has alcohol sales in the Tarrant County portion of the city but not in the Johnson County side of town." [2]
[edit] Dry counties in Kentucky
Of the 120 counties of Kentucky, 55 are completely dry and 30 are wet [4]. The remaining 35 counties fall somewhere in between.
- Under Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS) 242.123, an individual precinct within a dry county that contains a USGA-regulation golf course may vote to allow the sale of alcoholic beverages by the drink on that specific course. Currently, 13 courses in 10 different counties are approved for such sales. (One of the courses is in a county that voted wet after the course's license was approved.)
- KRS 243.155 allows individual precincts within dry counties to vote to allow a "small farm winery" to operate within the precinct. Once approved, a winery not only can produce and sell wine on its premises, but can also apply for a license to sell wine and beer by the drink in a restaurant located on its premises. Currently, 11 wineries are operating in 9 dry counties under this statute; two other wineries, both in the same county, were similarly approved but have since closed. KRS 243.154 allows a wholesale distributor of wine produced in small farm wineries to operate in dry territory.
- KRS 242.185(6) allows either a dry county or a city located in a dry county to vote to allow restaurants that seat at least 100 patrons and derive at least 70% of their total sales from food to serve alcohol by the drink. Such sales have been approved in 16 cities, as well as Oldham County and Shelby County outside of the wet city of Shelbyville.
- 16 other cities are wet cities located in dry counties (such as Shelbyville). An otherwise dry county for general retail sales that contains a wet city is also known as a moist county.
A study of about 39,000 alcohol-related traffic accidents in Kentucky found that residents of dry counties are more likely to be involved in such crashes, possibly because they have to drive farther from their homes to consume alcohol, thus increasing impaired driving exposure. The study concludes that county-level prohibition is not necessarily effective in improving highway safety.
[edit] Other notable "dry" jurisdictions
- Ocean City, New Jersey, a major beach-side resort city, is dry, and uses this fact to promote itself to tourists as family-friendly.
- In December 2005, Bridgewater, Connecticut, became the last remaining "dry town" in that state.
- The city of Westerville, Ohio, was dry for well over a century. Once the home of the Anti-Saloon League and called the "dry capital of the world", the first legal drink in recent times was served in 2006.
- The city of Monmouth, Oregon was the last dry municipality on the Pacific coast outside of Alaska until it removed its prohibitions on January 10, 2003.
- Some cities, like Jacksonville, Arkansas, are dry despite being otherwise located in a "wet" county. In nearby North Little Rock, the distinction of areas is even more specific, with a single township inside the city designated as a dry area.
- The town of Panaca, Nevada, was southern Nevada's first permanent settlement, founded as a Mormon colony in 1864. It was originally part of Washington County, Utah, but the Congressional redrawing of boundaries in 1866 shifted Panaca into Nevada. However, it still remains Nevada's only dry municipality.
- The consolidated city-county government of Lynchburg and Moore County, Tennessee is home to the Jack Daniel's distillery. Lynchburg-Moore County is dry to purchase.
[edit] Transport
It had been considered because of the 21st Amendment, which repealed national prohibition and made alcohol prohibition a state matter rather than a federal one, that states had the power to regulate interstate commerce with respect to alcohol traveling to, from or through their state. While the 21st Amendment does give states the power to ban alcohol, that power is not absolute. The U.S. Supreme Court held in Granholm v. Heald that states do not have the power to regulate interstate shipments of alcoholic beverages, and therefore it may be likely that a city, county or state ordinance banning possession of alcoholic beverages by passengers of vehicles operating in interstate commerce (such as trains and interstate bus lines), where those passengers are simply passing through that state would be unconstitutional.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Dry counties
- ^ Labbe, J.R. "You may need a drink to understand our liquor laws." Fort Worth Star-Telegram, May 16, 2004
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