Bill to ban retail sales of cold beer. (Memphis, Bristol: fit in, crime)

[Wartrace]

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...-in-tennessee/

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A bill working its way through the Tennessee legislature could put a chill on cold beer sales in the state.

According to its summary on the state website, SB 2636 “prohibits a beer permittee from selling at retail refrigerated or cold beer.” It passed two votes in the Senate and was referred to a committee.

I can see the benefits of this in reducing "some" of the drunk driving in Tennessee but it won't stop the people drinking at bars and restaurants. I am getting a bit tired of all the empty beer cans the drinking drivers leave up and down my road so there is some benefit in this proposed law for me. I have two beers a day in the evening AT HOME so no skin off my teeth.

[GWoodle]

Originally Posted by Wartrace

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...-in-tennessee/

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A bill working its way through the Tennessee legislature could put a chill on cold beer sales in the state.

According to its summary on the state website, SB 2636 “prohibits a beer permittee from selling at retail refrigerated or cold beer.” It passed two votes in the Senate and was referred to a committee.

I can see the benefits of this in reducing "some" of the drunk driving in Tennessee but it won't stop the people drinking at bars and restaurants. I am getting a bit tired of all the empty beer cans the drinking drivers leave up and down my road so there is some benefit in this proposed law for me. I have two beers a day in the evening AT HOME so no skin off my teeth.

The major opponent to the bill may be from convenience store owners. Too many idiots go in for a cold one & go drink & drive. So the police find open beer cans when they make DUI stop. With so many aisles of cold ones in grocery & convenience stores not sure how this would work.

[Wartrace]

Originally Posted by GWoodle

The major opponent to the bill may be from convenience store owners. Too many idiots go in for a cold one & go drink & drive. So the police find open beer cans when they make DUI stop. With so many aisles of cold ones in grocery & convenience stores not sure how this would work.

I think the law would prohibit any retailer from selling anything but room-temperature beer. Pretty simple; if you are selling beer from a cooler you are violating the law. From what I can see on our roadways the police won't find empties; the drunks throw them as they drink.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Wartrace

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-w...-in-tennessee/

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A bill working its way through the Tennessee legislature could put a chill on cold beer sales in the state.

According to its summary on the state website, SB 2636 “prohibits a beer permittee from selling at retail refrigerated or cold beer.” It passed two votes in the Senate and was referred to a committee.

I can see the benefits of this in reducing "some" of the drunk driving in Tennessee but it won't stop the people drinking at bars and restaurants. I am getting a bit tired of all the empty beer cans the drinking drivers leave up and down my road so there is some benefit in this proposed law for me. I have two beers a day in the evening AT HOME so no skin off my teeth.

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.

[Wartrace]

Originally Posted by Serious Conversation

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.

I agree that this law wouldn't reduce DUI's very much however there is a subset of alcoholics that prefer to do their drinking while driving the backroads such as the one I live on. I walk the road every day with my dogs and the number of empty beer cans/bottles is clear evidence that these alcoholics drive down the road every day drinking. I used to collect the cans and dispose of them but I can't keep up. Since I don't own the property on the road frontage I am just letting them sit. I have even found empty liquor bottles which of course this law would not stop.

[Serious Conversation]

Originally Posted by Wartrace

I agree that this law wouldn't reduce DUI's very much however there is a subset of alcoholics that prefer to do their drinking while driving the backroads such as the one I live on. I walk the road every day with my dogs and the number of empty beer cans/bottles is clear evidence that these alcoholics drive down the road every day drinking. I used to collect the cans and dispose of them but I can't keep up. Since I don't own the property on the road frontage I am just letting them sit. I have even found empty liquor bottles which of course this law would not stop.

Coincidentally county governments have DUI trash pickup crews for situations like this.

[Zenstyle]

What a funny aversion to room-temperature beer.

[Matt Marcinkiewicz]

Originally Posted by Zenstyle

What a funny aversion to room-temperature beer.

I prefer room temperature beer to cold beer, personally

[Tripicana]

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

[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.