Bill to ban retail sales of cold beer. (taxi, income)

[Wartrace]

Originally Posted by Tripicana

Haha, you think warm beer will stop an alcoholic from drinking and driving?!

Stop? No. Maybe reduce it a little bit.

[Zenstyle]

I don't like seeing all the beer cans while going for a walk on road either.
Is there no bottle/can return program in Tennessee?

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Zenstyle

I don't like seeing all the beer cans while going for a walk on road either.
Is there no bottle/can return program in Tennessee?

Maybe some cities have their own, but the state doesn’t. Even basic recycling services have been drastically cut back here in recent years. At my local drop off, only paper, cardboard, and plastic are accepted - metal and glass are not.

[stephenMM]

So these brainiac politicians (a self canceling phrase if ever there was one) think people won't just pick up a bag of ice w/ their warm beer purchase? Or just drink the beer warm? With some of these beers, warm might be a better option anyway.

[suzytx]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

Maybe some cities have their own, but the state doesn’t. Even basic recycling services have been drastically cut back here in recent years. At my local drop off, only paper, cardboard, and plastic are accepted - metal and glass are not.

In Elizabethton they accept paper, cardboard and aluminum cans but no glass or plastic.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by md21722

It's said that at least 50% of Memphis drivers are "high" while on the road and it's been that way for years.

I really don't think this bill is going to pass but if it does, in this area, there's always Virginia for cold beer & it's cheaper too.

I don't like seeing all the beer cans while going for a walk on road either.

The fent issue in the Sullivan County Jail happened 2 days in a row. That place needs to be shut down.

Sullivan has some sort of "DUI grant" where they are basically rewarded for increased DUI convictions. I had an incident over a year ago, was charged with a DUI, and ultimately just pled to the DUI even though the circumstances of the case were weak legally. I wasn't going to pay another $10,000 in legal fees to take the case to trial, then get the book thrown after me if I lost, vs. state minimums in a plea deal.

Folks also need to keep in mind that if they get wrapped up in this circus, the jury pool in a DUI case at trial is going to be comprised of the same folks who elected these idiot DAs and politicians. The jury pool locally is "law and order," and you're basically guilty and have to prove innocence in any criminal case in the eyes of the typical local jury pool member.

Also, some counties will plea bargain DUIs to a reduced charge - Sullivan does not, and will continue to prosecute DUIs, even if toxicology comes back completely clean. Even if the arrest is completely false, most people do not have the resources for a lengthy court battle.

The bottom line is that state officials, and local officials, at least here in Sullivan, are basically trolling for relatively minor alcohol-related arrests and crimes, while the fifteen man fent incident at the jail, and similar stuff going on across the state, barely makes news.

Originally Posted by stephenMM

So these brainiac politicians (a self canceling phrase if ever there was one) think people won't just pick up a bag of ice w/ their warm beer purchase? Or just drink the beer warm? With some of these beers, warm might be a better option anyway.

As I mentioned, I don't see how this is going to change much, even if it was passed. John Doe buys a six pack of Bud on his way home from work. He drinks a couple, maybe three, before arriving home. Unless he's small, he's not going to be legally drunk off that. The demographic who is buying beer and drinking it on the way home is not typically the same demographic consuming higher ABV craft beers that could get them legally drunk if they sucked them down on a commute.

I'm sure there are a handful of road-trippers drinking beers on the road, then tossing them out, but that's so small as to be statistically insignificant. Anyone doing that also probably has a cooler with them.

Originally Posted by suzytx

In Elizabethton they accept paper, cardboard and aluminum cans but no glass or plastic.

Each area probably has different things they do or don't take. The big ting is recycling availability is less now than twenty years ago. That's probably a contributor to the increased beer cans everywhere.

[md21722]

Originally Posted by Zenstyle

I don't like seeing all the beer cans while going for a walk on road either.
Is there no bottle/can return program in Tennessee?

Only about 10 states have a return program like they have in Michigan or New York where you are charged a deposit at purchase and receive credit when you return.

The affluent areas around Nashville seem to do pretty good with recycling.

I think the real recycling problem started when the Chinese started refusing U.S. "recyclable" plastic because it filled with non-recyclable items. The processors upped the costs and it no longer made it reasonable to continue in a lot of areas.

This is not specific to Tennessee either. When I had to move away for work to Colorado, my community there ended its recycling program because people were using the recycle bins for regular household waste even though the recycle bins were a different color & had recycle logos on all sides. I currently live just over the line in Virginia and the county stopped it's recycling program due to high processing fees.

Tennessee / TDOT has been trying to get people to stop throwing trash out the window since at least the mid-1970's. It's not just beer cans. Fast food bags and other things are routinely tossed out the window. It's also a classless crime. Rich people do it. Poor people do it. People in trucks do it. People in Jaguars do it. Go on YouTube and search for "Tennessee Trash Commercial".

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Wow. What a foolish example of government overreach and useless legislation. You would think our legislature would have much more important things to worry about.

[2mares]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

The bill also mentioned the fact that bars could only serve two mixed drinks/spirits/wine or three beers unless the person could somehow "prove" they had transportation home other than driving.

Here's the problem.

I live in Bristol - the TN side is about 30,000 residents. The VA side is another 20,000 or so. There is basically no reliable Uber/Lyft in this area.

A year or so ago, the only full-time (that I know of) Uber driver in the city was falsely arrested for DUI twice. Both times, his Uber account was suspended. Both times, the toxicology came back clean, but the DA still wanted to prosecute the case. The cases were ultimately thrown out. His attorney took the case on pro bono because he knew the driver doesn't drink. If he hadn't had that representation, he'd have to have taken the case all the way to trial, with all the associated expenses, Uber/license suspension, etc., just to get out of a crime he didn't commit. Many people would just take the plea deal for minimums and move on.

What did this do to the local Uber business? Word got around about what happened to him, and that basically scared the part-time drivers off. Sure, you might find a driver during regular daytime hours, but there are basically none during typical bar hours. No one wants the hassle of an aggressive cop pulling you over, as a sober Uber driver, to charge you with a DUI you didn't commit.

There is basically no way to get to/from the main bar district for a night out. I know a couple of people who own bars/breweries, and their business has been way down over the past year or so. The police are extremely aggressive in pulling people over for any reason, or harassing them on the street on suspicion of public intoxication. Several long-term downtown restaurants and businesses have closed - while aggressive policing isn't the only factor, it is a contributing one from everything I know.

My dad worked in the downtown area for several years, getting off at 2 AM. He was pulled over several times for no reason - the police likely just want to see why you are out at that hour.

I don't see how the "cold beer" thing is going to reduce DUIs much. If someone is grabbing a cold one on the way home, it's unlikely they are going to guzzle through them so fast as to be legally DUI by the time they get home. The people who are doing this aren't likely the same types of people who would be drinking higher ABV craft beer, either.

FWIW, I lived in Indiana a decade ago before cold beer sales in grocery stores were legal there. All it did was annoy me to have throw the beer in the freezer for awhile. I never think about drinking them in the car on my way home.

TN has far more serious problems than cold beer. Sullivan County had a big fent incident in the local jail last week that sent over fifteen people to the hospital. Meth and opioid abuse here are rampant. Public intoxication, obviously not alcohol related, seems to have spiked dramatically in the last five years or so. Crime is high. Unless the mid-2010s, craft beer in northeast TN basically didn't exist because of heavy-handed government policy.

None of this surprises me. TN lawmakers purport to want to keep out of your life, but consistently want to regulate what people do on relatively "small potatoes" issues like this - meanwhile, serious issues like meth and opioid addiction get relatively short-shrift.

Good post.
There is a gas station/"convivence mart" less than a mile from my house. Sometimes on Friday after work I like to pick up a cold six pack to take home. I like to drink one or two when I get there. All this legislation will accomplish is create another PITA for law abiding citizens.

I just noticed when I was at the Wal Mart yesterday in their grab and go section near the registers which has sandwiches and prepackaged "meals" chips and drinks, etc. they had cold single "tall boys".
That seems to me to defeat the purpose of this legislation.

[2mares]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

Wow. What a foolish example of government overreach and useless legislation. You would think our legislature would have much more important things to worry about.

Agreed.