WebsterMark wrote on 04/27/14 at 06:18:48:I was in Arkansas last week at a tough job..... tired as hell later and hungry. I was in a little mill town and all it had were crappy hotels so drove 45 miles to El Dorado, AR or maybe it was Monticello, AR.... Both dry counties... You run into that a lot in Arkansas. Plenty of little crappy liquor stores to buy a few beers in, but all I really want to do is sit down at a table, order a steak or a burger and have a couple beers..... You have to ask the hotel guy for the one or two restaurants in town who have paid off whomever they need to pay off so they can serve beer at dinner..... Some places in Arkansas still get around this by saying they are a social club in which alcohol is legal. So you go in, pay a token membership fee, sign a card, sit down and have a meal and beer. Silly.....
Yes, it's a holdover from the viewpoint of conservative Southern Baptist (of which I grew up in) but like many viewpoints, they evolve over time. Sooner or later, Arkansas will do away with those laws and they should. The use of alcohol is so common place in the US, there's no reason. Now weed, is another matter. I am not in favor of legalizing that anywhere. There is a social aspect to having a brew with a buddy that's simply not there with weed. Also, why in the world would we make it easier for some people to waste part of their life away.....
hehe.. just observation on my part...
Its easy to blame "blue laws" on Baptists, but dont think for one minute that others dont profit from it. It was pointed out to me that Rankin County (in MS) was dry... not because of the baptists.. but in support of the illegal stills there. Legal brew created competition. But yeah... we are loosening up even here in the heart of the bible belt.