Showing posts with label Alcohol. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alcohol. Show all posts
Thursday, March 05, 2026
Tuesday, May 10, 2022
Saturday, November 03, 2018
7 foods that can potentially increase your risk of getting cancer
Processed meats like beef jerky have been labeled as carcinogens.
Eskymaks/Shutterstock
Over the past few years, public health organizations, academic studies, and governing bodies have linked a few foods and beverages to increased cancer risk and have labeled them c carcinogenic, something capable of causing cancer.
Here are some foods that, when consumed, have been linked to potentially increasing one's risk of getting cancer.
Alcohol has been identified as a known carcinogen.
I
t's been linked to multiple types of cancers.
Alcohol is recognized as a known carcinogen by major authorities such as the American Cancer Society and the National Institute of Health.
According to the National Cancer Institute, alcohol consumption has been linked to head and neck cancer, esophageal cancer, liver cancer, and other cancers.
Your cancer risk can be affected by how much you drink, especially over time, but as a rule of thumb, the federal Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommends drinking no more than one standard drink per day for women and two per day for men.
Processed meat, like hot dogs, sausages, and beef jerky, are proven carcinogens.
Carcinogens can be linked to cancer risk.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Sunday, August 26, 2018
No level of alcohol consumption is healthy, scientists say
A new study says that no amount of drinking is good for you. (iStock)
When it comes to drinking alcohol, the healthiest thing to do is abstain entirely, according to a large, wide-ranging report published by scientists.
Alcohol led to 2.8 million premature deaths in 2016; it was the leading risk factor for premature mortality and disability in the 15 to 49 age group, accounting for 20 percent of deaths, according to the researchers at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, who carried out the study.
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Globally, 27.1 percent of cancer deaths in women and 18.9 percent in men over age 50 were linked to the their drinking habits, according to the study’s findings, which were published in the Lancet medical journal.
Researchers investigated the health effects of alcohol consumption in 195 countries between 1990 and 2016—using data from 694 studies to find out how common drinking was and from 592 studies to determine health risks.
The study, which received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, also analyzed whether moderate levels of drinking could have health benefits—which previous studies have indicated.
Sunday, April 01, 2018
Sunday laws aren't about Christianity — they're about economics
By Brian Alberts Special to The Washington Post
Last month, Indiana residents gained the ability to buy packaged alcohol on a Sunday for the first time in more than two centuries. Idiosyncratic Sunday laws regulating alcohol, commerce and personal behavior have peppered American history since the nation’s founding and are commonly viewed as relics of bygone religious Puritanism or hypersensitive moral codes. After all, Indiana’s laws began in 1787 (before Indiana even became a state), with the direction that “the Christian world” should abstain from any work, except that of “necessity and charity,” to honor the Sabbath. But it didn’t take long for Sunday laws to become tools for various political interests, which may or may not harbor any religious conviction on the matter.
In fact, those most committed to Indiana’s Sunday ban were not religious groups but the state’s powerful liquor store lobby. It long safeguarded its members’ ability to remain closed on Sundays while their competitors (grocery and convenience stores) remained open without being able to sell booze on those days. Lifting the ban required striking a deal with big-box retailers to protect liquor stores’ virtual legal monopoly on selling cold beer.
The prominence of economic concerns regarding such laws should come as no surprise. In Indiana and other states, Sunday advocacy (or Sabbatarianism) began as a tool to root out vice and immorality but wound up serving economic and political purposes above all else. While the Christian origins of the laws remain apparent — they apply only on the Christian Sabbath, after all — over the past two centuries the laws have largely lost their overt spirituality.
Early Sunday laws throughout the country invoked religious values to control the behavior of ordinary citizens, who, lawmakers feared, tended toward drunkenness and greed. Using the government to ban business transactions, recreation or alcohol consumption on the Sabbath encouraged church attendance and responsible commerce, they believed. According to a 1797 Massachusetts law, the prohibition gave workers a necessary day of rest from the burdens of labor. Blocking alcohol consumption further curbed drunkenness and criminal behavior.
Last month, Indiana residents gained the ability to buy packaged alcohol on a Sunday for the first time in more than two centuries. Idiosyncratic Sunday laws regulating alcohol, commerce and personal behavior have peppered American history since the nation’s founding and are commonly viewed as relics of bygone religious Puritanism or hypersensitive moral codes. After all, Indiana’s laws began in 1787 (before Indiana even became a state), with the direction that “the Christian world” should abstain from any work, except that of “necessity and charity,” to honor the Sabbath. But it didn’t take long for Sunday laws to become tools for various political interests, which may or may not harbor any religious conviction on the matter.
In fact, those most committed to Indiana’s Sunday ban were not religious groups but the state’s powerful liquor store lobby. It long safeguarded its members’ ability to remain closed on Sundays while their competitors (grocery and convenience stores) remained open without being able to sell booze on those days. Lifting the ban required striking a deal with big-box retailers to protect liquor stores’ virtual legal monopoly on selling cold beer.
The prominence of economic concerns regarding such laws should come as no surprise. In Indiana and other states, Sunday advocacy (or Sabbatarianism) began as a tool to root out vice and immorality but wound up serving economic and political purposes above all else. While the Christian origins of the laws remain apparent — they apply only on the Christian Sabbath, after all — over the past two centuries the laws have largely lost their overt spirituality.
Early Sunday laws throughout the country invoked religious values to control the behavior of ordinary citizens, who, lawmakers feared, tended toward drunkenness and greed. Using the government to ban business transactions, recreation or alcohol consumption on the Sabbath encouraged church attendance and responsible commerce, they believed. According to a 1797 Massachusetts law, the prohibition gave workers a necessary day of rest from the burdens of labor. Blocking alcohol consumption further curbed drunkenness and criminal behavior.
Monday, January 01, 2018
Wednesday, December 23, 2015
Americans drinking themselves to death at record rates
More people died in the U.S. from reasons caused by alcohol than from prescription painkillers and heroin combined.
By Stephen Feller | Dec. 23, 2015 at 10:27 AM
Large increases in binge drinking and alcohol abuse have been seen in the last 15 years in the United States. Photo by Igor Normann/Shutterstock
ATLANTA, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Several recent studies have shown epidemic use of prescription opioids and heroin, but new data show Americans are drinking themselves to death in record numbers.
More than 30,700 people died from alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis of the liver last year, and when factoring in deaths from alcohol-related DUI the number rises to more than 88,000, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of people having at least two drinks per month has steadily increased over the last decade by about two percent, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, with women showing a greater increase in drinking since 2002 than men.
Several studies have shown positive effects on health with moderate drinking, including a recent study suggesting it can reduce risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Binge drinking and alcohol abuse have posed an increasing issue for the United States in recent years, though. A CDC study in June showed alcohol poisoning caused up to six deaths per day.
The data, experts say, follow drinking patterns that started to emerge in the 1990s. "Since the prevalence of heavy drinking tends to follow closely with per capita consumption, it is likely that one explanation for the growth in alcohol-related deaths is that more people are drinking more," Philip Cook, a researchers at Duke University,told the Washington Post.
By Stephen Feller | Dec. 23, 2015 at 10:27 AM
Large increases in binge drinking and alcohol abuse have been seen in the last 15 years in the United States. Photo by Igor Normann/Shutterstock
ATLANTA, Dec. 23 (UPI) -- Several recent studies have shown epidemic use of prescription opioids and heroin, but new data show Americans are drinking themselves to death in record numbers.
More than 30,700 people died from alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis of the liver last year, and when factoring in deaths from alcohol-related DUI the number rises to more than 88,000, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The number of people having at least two drinks per month has steadily increased over the last decade by about two percent, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, with women showing a greater increase in drinking since 2002 than men.
Several studies have shown positive effects on health with moderate drinking, including a recent study suggesting it can reduce risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Binge drinking and alcohol abuse have posed an increasing issue for the United States in recent years, though. A CDC study in June showed alcohol poisoning caused up to six deaths per day.
The data, experts say, follow drinking patterns that started to emerge in the 1990s. "Since the prevalence of heavy drinking tends to follow closely with per capita consumption, it is likely that one explanation for the growth in alcohol-related deaths is that more people are drinking more," Philip Cook, a researchers at Duke University,told the Washington Post.
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Friday, December 12, 2014
SantaCon to scale back festivities in NYC due to protests
BY SEBASTIEN MALO
NEW YORK Thu Dec 11, 2014 6:15pm EST
Revelers dressed as Santa Claus gather at a park during the SantaCon event in New York December 14, 2013.
CREDIT: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ
(Reuters) - SantaCon, an annual New York City bar crawl that typically draws tens of thousands of revelers dressed like Santa Claus, will "scale back" this year when a march against police brutality is also planned for Saturday.
Originating in San Francisco as a counterpoint to Christmas consumerism, SantaCon has spread to 300 U.S. cities, according to organizers, and New York's version is the largest.
But on Saturday it will take place on the same day as the Millions March, potentially bringing two large crowds in close proximity in Manhattan.
"Due to the planned protests this Saturday, Santacon is scaling back this weekend's festivities in order to create the lowest possible impact," organizers wrote on the event's Facebook page.
The Millions March comes after more than two weeks of protests over decisions not to charge white police officers involved in the deaths of two black men, Michael Brown in Missouri and Eric Garner in New York.
More than 40,000 people have said they would join the march on the rally's Facebook page. A rally will begin at 2 p.m. in Greenwich Village's Washington Square Park.
SantaCon runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It has drawn big crowds in the past, with about 30,000 alcohol-fueled participants last year, according to media reports. The organizers declined to estimate the number of participants last year.In the past, the pub crawl's "route" has been kept secret until the day before. This year, it may take place in midtown Manhattan, a lawyer working with the organizers said.
"My understanding is that it's going to be in Midtown Manhattan," Norman Siegel, a prominent civil rights attorney, said. Organizers did not respond to a request for confirmation but have said they would make a map public later on Thursday.
The event was initially planned for Bushwick, a neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn, but business owners objected because of complaints in years past about rowdy behavior, urinating and vomiting in public by some SantaCon revelers.
A local community board meeting told organizers "that they were not welcome here," said Willie Morales, who works for the board.
New York's SantaCon organizers have taken to Twitter to urge participants to behave themselves.
"Santa leaves presents, not puddles of puke," a Tweet posted on the group's official account reads.
"It does bring a lot of people, but they're destructive," said Jesse Levitt, who co-owns Bushwick's Kings County Saloon. "They're the worst kind of customers, but instead of one or two of them, you have thousands of them all together."
(Editting By Frank McGurty, Bernard Orr)
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Monday, June 30, 2014
Drinking Causes 1 in 10 Deaths of Working-Age Adults, CDC Says
JIM YOUNG / REUTERS
4 days
BY LINDA CARROLL
A stunning one in 10 deaths in working-age adults may be due to excessive alcohol consumption, a new government study shows.
That adds up to 88,000 deaths per year from 2006 to 2010, according to the report released Tuesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Put another way, that means that binge drinking and heavy regular drinking cut 30 years off the lives of those who died.
Some of those deaths were due to the long-range effects of chronic alcohol consumption at a rate of 15 or more drinks a week for men and 8 or more drinks a week for women. Those included mortality from breast cancer, liver disease and heart disease, CDC researchers reported.
Other deaths were associated with binge drinking—five or more drinks in a single bout for men and 4 or more for women. The top three causes of death included motor vehicle crashes (25 percent), homicides (16 percent) and falls (15 percent)....
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Friday, January 03, 2014
Got Insurance Ads Using Sex & Alcohol To Sell Obamacare
JmanPrepper Redux
Published on Nov 16, 2013
Check out the ad website and think for yourselves.
http://www.doyougotinsurance.com/
Here's a small sample from a Huffington Post story. (link below)
The people that brought you the Obamacare keg-stand "brosurance" campaign are back with a new set of eyebrow-raising ads.
The ads, which all live on the DoYouGotInsurance.com website, are a collaboration between Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education, and reference the famous "Got Milk?" ads.
In one ad -- called "Let's Get Physical" -- characters named "Susie" and "Nate" are described as "hot to trot." Susie gives a thumbs up while holding a back of birth control pills.
"OMG, he's hot!" the ad reads. "Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control. My health insurance covers the pill, which means all I have to worry about is getting him between the covers. I got insurance."
New Obamacare Ads Use Party Girls, Bloody Kids And Keg-Stands (Again) To Sell Insurance
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11...
Published on Nov 16, 2013
Check out the ad website and think for yourselves.
http://www.doyougotinsurance.com/
Here's a small sample from a Huffington Post story. (link below)
The people that brought you the Obamacare keg-stand "brosurance" campaign are back with a new set of eyebrow-raising ads.
The ads, which all live on the DoYouGotInsurance.com website, are a collaboration between Colorado Consumer Health Initiative and ProgressNow Colorado Education, and reference the famous "Got Milk?" ads.
In one ad -- called "Let's Get Physical" -- characters named "Susie" and "Nate" are described as "hot to trot." Susie gives a thumbs up while holding a back of birth control pills.
"OMG, he's hot!" the ad reads. "Let's hope he's as easy to get as this birth control. My health insurance covers the pill, which means all I have to worry about is getting him between the covers. I got insurance."
New Obamacare Ads Use Party Girls, Bloody Kids And Keg-Stands (Again) To Sell Insurance
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11...
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Thursday, November 14, 2013
How The Sharing Economy Is Changing The Places We Work
by Elise Hu
November 14, 2013 3:08 AM
Listen to the Story
4 min 30 sec
4 min 30 sec
Co-workers at Denver's Galvanize, a tech hub in Colorado's capital. Elise Hu/NPR
This week, we've been reporting on — a term that describes the couch-surfing, car-sharing and community-garden-growing world where so many people are using their existing talents, space or tools. You'll find the stories on this blog and , and we would love to hear your questions about the topic. Just , leave a comment or .
The sharing economy is powering a rise of new entrepreneurs who need a different kind of office space. Co-working spaces that foster certain communities, , in Denver, cater to that changing culture of work. When you walk into it — the first thing you'll see is a well-stocked bar. The second is a coffee shop.
A morning meeting at Galvanize's office bar. Elise Hu/NPR
"Cause coffee fires entrepreneurship, if you will," says Chris Onan, one of the three co-founders of Galvanize.
The 30,000-square-foot space is converted from an old bank note building, and a year after opening it's home to more than 140 tech companies that range from having one person work here occasionally, to teams of 30 that rent semi-permanent suite spaces.
The front, where you find the cafe, is open to the public. The nerve center of the space is an atrium of open workspace, which costs a few hundred dollars a month for membership. The outer rim of the bullpen is lined with glass-enclosed studios where midstage startups rent space next to one another but don't get tied to long-term leases.
"I'm not gonna rent a space for five years. Who knows where I'm gonna be in five years?" says , who heads GoSpotCheck, one of the companies who snagged a glass suite.
As the sharing (or peer) economy became big, more people shunned traditional offices and started their own enterprises, and those enterprises needed space and resources. That's what happened with Holloway.
The main atrium of Galvanize allows freelancers to work or come and go as they please, for a monthly membership fee. Elise Hu/NPR
"We were just a couple of us in a garage beforehand," she says. "We had graduated from my basement to a garage; we were in that garage for about a year. And then we were growing as a team, we were finding the right product market fit, and we needed a better environment to work."
This kind of work environment is now cropping up in cities around the world. Galvanize is not exclusively a co-working space, but a hub for tech-specific companies, since the vision was to create a community for entrepreneurs in the same field. It's also a school for designers and developers. It's the brainchild of Jim Deters.
"I do think the rise of facilities like this [arose] to support these solo-prenuers that don't just want to work in a coffee shop or hotel lobby, or get tired of sitting at home by themselves in their jammies," Deters says. "They want to come and work in inspiring environments to make connections and be part of a community to share ideas and transfer ideas."
Galvanize co-founder Chris Onan holds a cup of Galvanize's signature coffee. Elise Hu/NPR
It was the ideas for technology platforms that make so much of the peer economy possible. So it's fitting that the people founding technology companies led the way to this newer kind of work style.
"I like to talk about the importance of building the connective tissue or the relationships between people in these sort of share-a-beer moment, or share-a-coffee moment, because that's what makes us human, right?" Deters says. "We like to break bread together, we like to socialize together, and work and life are not different for this generation. Work is not just work for these people. It is their life."
"These people" — millennials — are the sons and daughters of baby boomers and now number at least 75 million. By many counts, they outnumber boomers. Denise Cheng, a peer economy researcher with the MIT Center for Civic Media, points out a key reason millennials went full bore into the sharing economy: out of necessity.
"They actually don't have a lot of the same opportunities because right around the time they were born was when a lot of corporate structures started to change, and those benefits started to go away," Cheng says. "I think that one really big thing about the millennial generation is that we are going to have so many different careers over a lifetime. And that fluidity also translates into what our work structure looks like."
That fluidity is working out well — not just for Galvanize's young tech founders — but for employees of existing and established businesses that work out of the space, which include the car service Uber, file-sharing company Box and online audio company Pandora. Pandora's small sales team rents desks overlooking Galvanize's floor of freelancers.
"It was just two of us; we wanted to be part of something greater, with more a vibe to it," says Pandora's Robin May.
The lobby entrance to Galvanize is a bar and a coffee shop. Elise Hu/NPR
The vibe is what the future of work feels like for lots of young entrepreneurs. A place without walls, all kinds of freedom and fueled by coffee and beer.
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Thursday, November 07, 2013
Hudson River Boat Crash Driver's Blood-Alcohol Nearly Twice Legal Limit: Prosecutors
Thursday, Nov 7, 2013 | Updated 12:47 PM EST
The 35-year-old man who piloted the boat in the Hudson River crash that killed a bride-to-be and her groom's best man in July had a blood-alcohol level that was nearly twice the legal limit, an indictment said Thursday.
Prosecutors had said after the crash that there was probable cause Jojo John was drunk when he plowed the 21-foot Stingray into a construction barge near the Tappan Zee Bridge on July 26, but the blood tests showing a .15 blood-alcohol level had not been revealed until now. The indictment also said cocaine metabolites were found in his system, but those can linger for longer.
The grand jury indictment charges him with 18 counts, including vehicular manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide.
"Drinking and driving is a lethal mix, as it appears to have been in this incident, which left several families shattered," said Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe.
The crash killed Lindsey Stewart, 30, who was set to be married Aug. 10. Her fiance's best man, 30-year-old Mark Lennon, also died.
A lawyer for John said poor lighting on the barge, not any impairment, caused the crash.
"Any alleged impairment had nothing to do with the casualties," said James Mercante. "One should be able to cross a wide open expanse of river, whether impaired or not impaired, without having poorly lit or unlit barges in the middle of the road, so to speak."
Families of the two people who died have said that the passengers on the boat "had consumed very little alcohol and considered themselves sober."
Stewart's and Lennon's families also said in the statement after the crash, "Compounding our agony is the rush, by some, to cast blame on or even malign the victims."
The New York State Thruway Authority and the Coast Guard have said the barge lighting appeared to be functioning normally and met all regulations.
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Monday, November 04, 2013
To Stave Off Decline, Churches Attract New Members With Beer
by John Burnett
November 03, 2013 4:25 AM
Listen to the story
6 min 6 sec
Todd Fadel, at piano, leads singers at a recent gathering of Beer & Hymns at First Christian Church Portland. John Burnett/NPR
Some church groups are brewing it themselves, while others are bring the Holy Mysteries to a taproom. The result is not sloshed congregants; rather, it's an exploratory approach to do church differently.
Leah Stanfield stands at a microphone across the room from the beer taps and reads this evening's gospel message.
She's a 28-year-old leasing agent who's been coming to Church-in-a-Pub here in Fort Worth, Tex., for a year, and occasionally leads worship.
"I find the love, I find the support, I find the non-judgmental eyes when I come here," she says. "And I find friends that love God, love craft beer."
Every Sunday evening, 30 to 40 people gather at Zio Carlo brewpub to order pizza and pints of beer, to have fellowship, and have church — including communion.
Leah Stanfield, a leasing agent in Fort Worth and regular attendee of Church-in-a Pub, hands out bread during communion at the tavern. John Burnett/NPR
Pastor Philip Heinze and his Calvary Lutheran Church sponsor Church-in-a-Pub, whose formal name is the Greek word, Kyrie.
Some patrons are understandably confused. They come in for a brew and there's a religious service going on in their bar. They expected Trivia Night and they get the Holy Eucharist.
"I tell 'em, it's a church service," says bartender Les Bennett, "And they're, like, 'In a pub?' And I'm, like, yeah. Some of 'em stick around for trivia, some of 'em take off, some of 'em will hang out and have another pint or two."
That's one of the objectives: A guy sits at the bar nursing a beer, he overhears the Gospel of Luke, he sees people line up to take bread and wine, he gets curious. Phil Heinze says pub church has now become an official — if edgy — Lutheran mission.
"I'm not interested, frankly, in making more church members," Heinze. "I'm interested in having people have significant relationships around Jesus. And if it turns out to be craft beer, fine."
For most of the folks who attend regularly, this is their Sunday night congregation. Church leaders, initially skeptical, are now paying attention. Last month, the regional council of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America named Church-in-a-pub a Synodically Authorized Worshiping Community. Next year, it will call a young pastor to expand the idea to other taverns around Dallas-Fort Worth.
"I think the institutional church now is getting onboard," says Heinze, "because there's a lot of anxiety frankly about the church's decline and they're trying to think outside of that institutional box."
In downtown Portland, Ore., at the stately old First Christian Church, one Saturday night a month they open the parish hall for an event called Beer & Hymns.
The sign for Beer & Hymns at First Christian Church in downtown Portland, Ore. John Burnett/NPR
There must be 100 people here tonight, most of them young, the kind you rarely see in church on Sunday morning. They're swigging homemade stout from plastic cups — with a two-beer limit. They're singing traditional hymns from a projection screen like Be Thou My Vision. And they're having way too much fun.
Like the crowd at Church-in-a-pub, a lot of folks at Beer & Hymns appear to be refugees from traditional churches.
Between hymns, people can stand up and say anything they want. Jolie Shempert, a transgender person who's studying humanities at Portland State University, steps up to the mike.
Shempert was raised in a strict church that taught that animals don't have souls, only people do. But Shempert's beloved dog, Gunner, has just died.
"I want to sing this song in defiance of that because Gunner was my friend. And he has emotions and a personality and I had a relationship with him that's as real as any relationship I had with any human being."
The Christian Church Disciples of Christ — a small mainline Protestant denomination — has experienced a steep drop in membership in recent decades. Beer & Hymns is one attempt to attract new people, in this hip, beer-loving city, while keeping a safe distance away from stained-glass windows.
Rodney Page is optimistic. The 78-year-old is a long-time member of First Christian Portland and a Beer & Hymns convert.
"I know that initially there were some people who had some trepidation," says Page. "This church has had a history and background of being anti-alcohol, so it took some convincing for some people. But eventually people went ahead with it and it's been a great success."
No one is suggesting that Beer & Hymns or Church-in-a-Pub — or any of the dozens of other beer-in-church events that are popping up around the nation — are permanent. They're transitional experiments.
Amy Piatt is senior pastor at First Christian Church Portland. She's a sixth-generation Disciple of Christ and the originator of Beer & Hymns. She says in this postmodern age, what it means to attend church is changing.
"It's probably, in the very near future, not going to be at 10 am on Sunday morning wearing your best shoes and tie or dress," she says. "It's going to be something different. I mean, what that is, we are still finding out, we're still learning together. But it's still holy, God is still there, and that's what's most important."
To doubters, the Beer & God crowd has this pop quiz. What was the first miracle Jesus performed? Turning water into wine.
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Thursday, August 22, 2013
Beauty and beer: Monks' outreach is part of new evangelization
VATICAN LETTER Aug-21-2013 (970 words) Backgrounder. With photos. xxxi
Benedictine Brother Francis Davoren, left, head "brewmonk" or brewmaster, and Benedictine Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of Birra Nursia, toast with their blond brew at the brewery of St. Benedict's Monastery in Norcia, Italy. (CNS/Henry Daggett)
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even before retired Pope Benedict XVI set up a pontifical council for new evangelization and convoked a world Synod of Bishops on the theme, a new group of Benedictine monks was using Latin and liturgy to reach out to those whose faith was weak or nonexistent.
Now they've added beer to the blend, and people are flocking to the monastery in Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict, about 70 miles northeast of Rome in the Umbrian countryside.
But for the 18 members of St. Benedict's monastery, life is still about prayer.
"If the prayer doesn't come first, the beer is going to suffer," said Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of the Birra Nursia brewery and subprior of the monastery.
The monks in Norcia initially were known for their liturgical ministry, particularly sharing their chanted prayers in Latin online-- http://osbnorcia.org/blog -- with people around the world.
But following the Rule of St. Benedict means both prayer and manual labor, with a strong emphasis on the monks earning their own keep.
After just a year of brewing and selling their beer in the monastery gift shop and through restaurants in Norcia, financial self-sufficiency seems within reach, and the monks are talking expansion.
"We didn't expect it to be so enormously successful," said Father Cassian Folsom, the U.S. Benedictine who founded the community in 1998 and serves as its prior. "There's been a huge response, and our production can't keep up with the demand and the demand continues to grow."
But even with the talk of expanding the brewery, and perhaps exporting some of the brew to the United States, the Mass and the liturgical hours are still the centerpiece of the monks' lives.
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Benedictine Brother Francis Davoren, left, head "brewmonk" or brewmaster, and Benedictine Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of Birra Nursia, toast with their blond brew at the brewery of St. Benedict's Monastery in Norcia, Italy. (CNS/Henry Daggett)
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Even before retired Pope Benedict XVI set up a pontifical council for new evangelization and convoked a world Synod of Bishops on the theme, a new group of Benedictine monks was using Latin and liturgy to reach out to those whose faith was weak or nonexistent.
Now they've added beer to the blend, and people are flocking to the monastery in Norcia, the birthplace of St. Benedict, about 70 miles northeast of Rome in the Umbrian countryside.
But for the 18 members of St. Benedict's monastery, life is still about prayer.
"If the prayer doesn't come first, the beer is going to suffer," said Father Benedict Nivakoff, director of the Birra Nursia brewery and subprior of the monastery.
The monks in Norcia initially were known for their liturgical ministry, particularly sharing their chanted prayers in Latin online-- http://osbnorcia.org/blog -- with people around the world.
But following the Rule of St. Benedict means both prayer and manual labor, with a strong emphasis on the monks earning their own keep.
After just a year of brewing and selling their beer in the monastery gift shop and through restaurants in Norcia, financial self-sufficiency seems within reach, and the monks are talking expansion.
"We didn't expect it to be so enormously successful," said Father Cassian Folsom, the U.S. Benedictine who founded the community in 1998 and serves as its prior. "There's been a huge response, and our production can't keep up with the demand and the demand continues to grow."
But even with the talk of expanding the brewery, and perhaps exporting some of the brew to the United States, the Mass and the liturgical hours are still the centerpiece of the monks' lives.
Read more
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Thursday, February 28, 2013
UW-L professor questions effectiveness of 'sin taxes'
Erik Daily
Laci Wolter, manager at Holy Smokes on Rose Street, arranges liquor bottles on a shelf at the store. Despite promises from politicians that "sin taxes", like those on booze and cigarettes, can prevent use and offer a new pool of money for health programs, that's not necessarily true, said Adam Hoffer, assistant professor of economics for UW-L.
February 26, 2013 12:00 am • By PATRICK B. ANDERSON | panderson@lacrossetribune.com
Adam Hoffer knows people who question so-called sin taxes can be stigmatized as “crazy radicals that don’t know what they’re talking about.”
But taxing booze, cigarettes and soft drinks isn’t always a great idea, says the assistant professor of economics at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.
Hoffer co-wrote a column this month for U.S. News and World Report that raises doubts about the effectiveness of taxing tobacco and alcohol.
Such taxes heap more costs on low-income families without significantly deterring unhealthy behavior, Hoffer said.
Most of the money raised doesn’t go to health or prevention programs. Instead, Hoffer said, it gets lost in the shuffle of public funding.
“The policy makers in Madison have an idea of how much they want to spend on health care, regardless,” Hoffer said.
However, members of a Wisconsin anti-tobacco group say higher cigarette taxes have, in fact, curbed smoking, and they’re pushing for a similar increase for all tobacco products.
In the past six years, Wisconsin’s cigarette tax more than tripled, from 77 cents a pack to $2.52. Combine that with $1.01 for the federal government, and taxes account for well over half the retail price.
Politically safe ground
Hoffer started studying cigarette taxes as part of his doctoral dissertation at West Virginia University. His column points out a growing trend of lawmakers taxing unhealthy behaviors — expanding excise taxes to products such as candy and soft drinks.
Politicians look to sin taxes as a safe way to raise money without upsetting voters, Hoffer said. “You will see pitch forks and torches if some states try to increase their income tax or their sales tax.”
Taxing sin paints a rosier picture, he said: Hike the price on cigarettes to deter smokers, then funnel the money into health care and tobacco-prevention programs.
The problem is that sin taxes don’t always work as promised, Hoffer said. Nationally, about 20 cents of every dollar raised in cigarette taxes goes to the earmarked purposes.
Wisconsin’s cigarette tax goes into the state’s general fund, along with all excise taxes. Taxing cigarettes raised $587.8 million alone for the state in 2012. Less than 1 percent of tobacco taxes are spent on prevention programs.
“Lawmakers don’t want to label sources of money,” said Todd Berry, president of the Wisconsin Taxpayers’ Alliance.
‘An arms race’
Money the state raised from the cigarette tax jumped by about $93 million when lawmakers last raised the rate in 2009, but three years later it had dropped by about $56.5 million. Cigarette sales are on a steady decline.
“Especially among youth,” said Laura Smith, a spokeswoman for Health First Wisconsin. “It’s definitely one of the most effective ways to lower smoking rates.”
The share of high school students who smoke dropped from 20.7 percent in 2008 to 13.1 percent in 2012, according to the Wisconsin Youth Tobacco Survey.
Health First is asking state lawmakers to tax other tobacco products like cigarettes, hoping higher taxes will lead to a similar drop. The group tried unsuccessfully to have Gov. Scott Walker include the measure in his 2013-15 budget proposal, and is asking other state lawmakers for help.
Rep. Chris Danou, D-Trempealeau, said he would support such a plan. Tobacco companies roll out cigarette alternatives, and, because taxes are lower on the new products, people make the switch, Danou said.
“It’s an arms race,” Danou said.
Not a deterrent
Cigarette taxes may be a steady source of government revenue, but Berry said there’s little financial benefit in raising taxes on other vices.
For instance, the state raised about $9.2 million in 2012 from the excise tax on beer. Wisconsin taxes brewers and importers about 6.5 cents per gallon on beer sold in the state.
Even doubling that would pale compared to the $11 billion from income and sales taxes, Berry said.
“There’s not a lot of money in beer, wine and liquor,” Berry said.
That hasn’t stopped lawmakers in other states from taxing a whole new category of unhealthy products, including candy and soft drinks.
The soft drink industry spent $57 million on lobbying efforts in 2009, and “there’s a small army being raised to fight the 32-ounce soft drink ban in New York City,” Hoffer said.
Despite claims otherwise, most people paying sin taxes are not easily deterred by higher prices, Hoffer said.
“Whenever their price goes up, people hardly change their consumption whatsoever,” Hoffer said.
Higher taxes correlate to falling cigarette sales in Wisconsin, but the drop didn’t happen in a vacuum. There’s the 2010 law that prohibited smoking in bars and restaurants, and there’s also out-of-state competition. The cigarette tax is lower per pack in Minnesota, Iowa and Illinois.
Meanwhile, Hoffer argues that increasing excise taxes disproportionately affects low-income residents, who are more likely to smoke and more likely to be overweight or obese.
“We’re taking away from the people’s ability to spend more on healthy food,” he said.
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Wednesday, January 09, 2013
Supreme Court to decide whether police can take your blood without your permission
The Supreme Court is back in session, with several big cases and decisions yet to come on issues of civil rights including the voting rights act, same sex marriage and affirmative action in school admissions. NBC's
Pete Williams reports from Washington.
By M. Alex Johnson, NBC News
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a landmark Fourth Amendment case that could clear up almost 50 years of uncertainty over the constitutionality of blood tests that are taken without a suspect's consent.
The case involves a traffic stop in Missouri, but its ramifications could range far wider, potentially rewriting drunk-driving laws in all 50 states.
"It comes down, basically, to are you going to see blood draws every single time someone gets pulled over for a DUI," said Michael A. Correll, a litigator with the international law firm Alston & Bird, who examined the legality of blood draws in the West Virginia Law Review last year.
Because drunk-driving stops are such an everyday occurrence, "it's going to affect a broad area of society," he told NBC News, adding: "This may be the most widespread Fourth Amendment situation that you and I are going to face" for the foreseeable future.
Writing last month in the journal of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, Lauren Owens, a research attorney for the organization, said, "The outcome of the case could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of DWI cases supported by blood evidence."
The case began in October 2010, when Tyler McNeely of Cape Girardeau, Mo., about 100 miles south of St. Louis, was pulled over for speeding. According to court documents, McNeely was unsteady and failed field sobriety tests, so state Highway Patrol Cpl. Mark Winder asked him to take a breath test.
Even before Supreme Court rules, gay marriage battles rage in the states
When McNeely refused, Winder took him to a hospital, where McNeely refused to take a blood test. Winder told the lab technician to take a sample anyway. The record shows that at no time did Winder seek a warrant compelling the test, which indicated that McNeely's blood-alcohol level was almost double the legal limit.
But McNeely's lawyers persuaded the trial judge to exclude the evidence as a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Here's where it gets complicated. Earlier in 2010, the Missouri Legislature changed the state's "implied consent" law, which says that if you drive on Missouri's roads, you've automatically consented to take a sobriety test.
The previous language said explicitly that if you refused to take a test, then "none shall be given" and the refusal itself could be used as evidence against you.
The new language left out the four words "none shall be given," re-emphasizing that the driver had consented simply by having gotten behind the wheel in the first place. Winder testified that he had read a journal article about the change and said he made a "conscious decision" not to seek a warrant "due to the law changes."
On appeal, the state argued that no warrant was needed because of a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a California DUI case that laid out circumstances under which law enforcement could order a blood test without a warrant.
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In general, a person's blood is protected under the Fourth Amendment, Chief Justice William Brennan wrote in Schmerber v. California (.pdf): "Search warrants are ordinarily required for searches of dwellings, and, absent an emergency, no less could be required where intrusions into the human body are concerned."
But Brennan noted that Armando Schmerber, the driver in the California case, had been in an accident. Because the officer had to investigate the scene and make sure Schmerber was taken to a hospital for treatment, "there was no time to seek out a magistrate and secure a warrant" before the driver's body metabolized the alcohol in his system, Brennan wrote.
So Brennan carved out what he called a "stringently limited" exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement because of the likelihood that evidence — the alcohol in the driver's blood — would be destroyed during the delay. That clause has come to be known as the "exigent circumstances" or "special facts" exception.
Missouri argued that delaying McNeely's blood test while the officer sought a warrant amounted to an exigent circumstance because the alcohol in his blood would be destroyed. McNeely argued that because his case involved a straightforward DUI stop — he wasn't in an accident, unlike Schmerber in 1966 — Winder had plenty of time to seek a warrant.
Missouri's Supreme Court agreed with McNeely in January 2012, writing (.pdf):
The patrolman here, however, was not faced with the "special facts" of Schmerber. Because there was no accident to investigate and there was no need to arrange for the medical treatment of any occupants, there was no delay that would threaten the destruction of evidence before a warrant could be obtained. ... The sole special fact present in this case, that blood-alcohol levels dissipate after drinking ceases, is not a per se exigency pursuant to Schmerber justifying an officer to order a blood test without obtaining a warrant from a neutral judge.
As the court itself noted, Brennan stressed 47 years ago that his analysis was expressly limited to the facts of the Schmerber case, but that hasn't stopped various state and federal courts from referring to it over the years, not all of them reading it the same way.
So in May, the state of Missouri asked the U.S. Supreme Court (.pdf) to step in because "this emerging conflict on a fundamental Fourth Amendment issue will likely continue to divide courts throughout the United States."
Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com
The federal government has sided with Missouri, writing in a friend-of-the-court brief (.pdf) that "the fact that the evidence of intoxication is necessarily leaving the suspect's system provides the required exigency." Prosecutors from across the country joined to file a similar brief (.pdf).
But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing McNeely, argued that there were no special circumstances trumping the Fourth Amendment.
In any event, it told the Supreme Court (.pdf), the issue is groundless, because — as he testified himself — the arresting officer ordered the blood test because he thought he could, not because of any "special facts." That means it's "a strange case in which to construe the exigency exception to the Fourth Amendment," the ACLU argued.
The court's decision is likely to come down to one simple question, Correll said: "Did Schmerber create a blanket exception to the Fourth Amendment or didn't it?"
"What does the court indicate the emergency is?" he asked. "Is the emergency the inability to get a warrant in a set period of time, or is the emergency that the blood alcohol is dissipating?"
As for McNeely, he's not off the hook even if he wins. Under a separate law that isn't at issue, his driver's license was revoked because he refused to take the breath and blood tests. And both sides agree that the blood test wasn't the only evidence against him, meaning he could still be convicted of felony drunk driving.
Source
.
The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Wednesday in a landmark Fourth Amendment case that could clear up almost 50 years of uncertainty over the constitutionality of blood tests that are taken without a suspect's consent.
The case involves a traffic stop in Missouri, but its ramifications could range far wider, potentially rewriting drunk-driving laws in all 50 states.
"It comes down, basically, to are you going to see blood draws every single time someone gets pulled over for a DUI," said Michael A. Correll, a litigator with the international law firm Alston & Bird, who examined the legality of blood draws in the West Virginia Law Review last year.
Because drunk-driving stops are such an everyday occurrence, "it's going to affect a broad area of society," he told NBC News, adding: "This may be the most widespread Fourth Amendment situation that you and I are going to face" for the foreseeable future.
Writing last month in the journal of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association, Lauren Owens, a research attorney for the organization, said, "The outcome of the case could lead to a dramatic increase in the number of DWI cases supported by blood evidence."
The case began in October 2010, when Tyler McNeely of Cape Girardeau, Mo., about 100 miles south of St. Louis, was pulled over for speeding. According to court documents, McNeely was unsteady and failed field sobriety tests, so state Highway Patrol Cpl. Mark Winder asked him to take a breath test.
Even before Supreme Court rules, gay marriage battles rage in the states
When McNeely refused, Winder took him to a hospital, where McNeely refused to take a blood test. Winder told the lab technician to take a sample anyway. The record shows that at no time did Winder seek a warrant compelling the test, which indicated that McNeely's blood-alcohol level was almost double the legal limit.
But McNeely's lawyers persuaded the trial judge to exclude the evidence as a warrantless search in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Here's where it gets complicated. Earlier in 2010, the Missouri Legislature changed the state's "implied consent" law, which says that if you drive on Missouri's roads, you've automatically consented to take a sobriety test.
The previous language said explicitly that if you refused to take a test, then "none shall be given" and the refusal itself could be used as evidence against you.
The new language left out the four words "none shall be given," re-emphasizing that the driver had consented simply by having gotten behind the wheel in the first place. Winder testified that he had read a journal article about the change and said he made a "conscious decision" not to seek a warrant "due to the law changes."
On appeal, the state argued that no warrant was needed because of a 1966 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a California DUI case that laid out circumstances under which law enforcement could order a blood test without a warrant.
Supreme Court lets embryonic stem cell research go forward
In general, a person's blood is protected under the Fourth Amendment, Chief Justice William Brennan wrote in Schmerber v. California (.pdf): "Search warrants are ordinarily required for searches of dwellings, and, absent an emergency, no less could be required where intrusions into the human body are concerned."
But Brennan noted that Armando Schmerber, the driver in the California case, had been in an accident. Because the officer had to investigate the scene and make sure Schmerber was taken to a hospital for treatment, "there was no time to seek out a magistrate and secure a warrant" before the driver's body metabolized the alcohol in his system, Brennan wrote.
So Brennan carved out what he called a "stringently limited" exception to the Fourth Amendment's warrant requirement because of the likelihood that evidence — the alcohol in the driver's blood — would be destroyed during the delay. That clause has come to be known as the "exigent circumstances" or "special facts" exception.
Missouri argued that delaying McNeely's blood test while the officer sought a warrant amounted to an exigent circumstance because the alcohol in his blood would be destroyed. McNeely argued that because his case involved a straightforward DUI stop — he wasn't in an accident, unlike Schmerber in 1966 — Winder had plenty of time to seek a warrant.
Missouri's Supreme Court agreed with McNeely in January 2012, writing (.pdf):
The patrolman here, however, was not faced with the "special facts" of Schmerber. Because there was no accident to investigate and there was no need to arrange for the medical treatment of any occupants, there was no delay that would threaten the destruction of evidence before a warrant could be obtained. ... The sole special fact present in this case, that blood-alcohol levels dissipate after drinking ceases, is not a per se exigency pursuant to Schmerber justifying an officer to order a blood test without obtaining a warrant from a neutral judge.
As the court itself noted, Brennan stressed 47 years ago that his analysis was expressly limited to the facts of the Schmerber case, but that hasn't stopped various state and federal courts from referring to it over the years, not all of them reading it the same way.
So in May, the state of Missouri asked the U.S. Supreme Court (.pdf) to step in because "this emerging conflict on a fundamental Fourth Amendment issue will likely continue to divide courts throughout the United States."
Watch US News videos on NBCNews.com
The federal government has sided with Missouri, writing in a friend-of-the-court brief (.pdf) that "the fact that the evidence of intoxication is necessarily leaving the suspect's system provides the required exigency." Prosecutors from across the country joined to file a similar brief (.pdf).
But the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing McNeely, argued that there were no special circumstances trumping the Fourth Amendment.
In any event, it told the Supreme Court (.pdf), the issue is groundless, because — as he testified himself — the arresting officer ordered the blood test because he thought he could, not because of any "special facts." That means it's "a strange case in which to construe the exigency exception to the Fourth Amendment," the ACLU argued.
The court's decision is likely to come down to one simple question, Correll said: "Did Schmerber create a blanket exception to the Fourth Amendment or didn't it?"
"What does the court indicate the emergency is?" he asked. "Is the emergency the inability to get a warrant in a set period of time, or is the emergency that the blood alcohol is dissipating?"
As for McNeely, he's not off the hook even if he wins. Under a separate law that isn't at issue, his driver's license was revoked because he refused to take the breath and blood tests. And both sides agree that the blood test wasn't the only evidence against him, meaning he could still be convicted of felony drunk driving.
Source
.
Friday, October 05, 2012
San Francisco archbishop jokes about his DUI arrest in speech
October 5, 2012 | 6:33 am
The new Roman Catholic archbishop of San Francisco, arrested on suspicion of drunk driving in San Diego in August, joked about the incident Thursday as he formally assumed his new position in the church.
Salvatore Joseph Cordileone was installed as archbishop amid ceremonial splendor at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco."I know in my life God has always had a way of putting me in my place. I would say, though, that in the latest episode of my life God has outdone himself," Cordileone told the audience, according to the Associated Press.
Cordileone, 56, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor reckless driving in the case, court records indicate. He had been set to be arraigned Oct. 9.
An attorney for Cordileone entered the plea Monday in San Diego County Superior Court. Cordileone was sentenced to three years' probation, a $1,120 fine and attendance at a panel discussion sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
The penalty is consistent with plea bargains given to other drivers arrested under similar circumstances, the city attorney's office said.
A native of San Diego, Cordileone had been at dinner with his mother when he was stopped at a routine late-night checkpoint near San Diego State University and taken into custody on suspicion of drunk driving. He was booked into county jail.
Within days he apologized for his actions and the embarrassment it caused the church.
-- Tony Perry in San Diego and Shelby Grad
Photo: Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone. Credit: Marcio Joseph Sanchez / Associated Press
Salvatore Joseph Cordileone was installed as archbishop amid ceremonial splendor at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption in San Francisco."I know in my life God has always had a way of putting me in my place. I would say, though, that in the latest episode of my life God has outdone himself," Cordileone told the audience, according to the Associated Press.
Cordileone, 56, has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of misdemeanor reckless driving in the case, court records indicate. He had been set to be arraigned Oct. 9.
An attorney for Cordileone entered the plea Monday in San Diego County Superior Court. Cordileone was sentenced to three years' probation, a $1,120 fine and attendance at a panel discussion sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
The penalty is consistent with plea bargains given to other drivers arrested under similar circumstances, the city attorney's office said.
A native of San Diego, Cordileone had been at dinner with his mother when he was stopped at a routine late-night checkpoint near San Diego State University and taken into custody on suspicion of drunk driving. He was booked into county jail.
Within days he apologized for his actions and the embarrassment it caused the church.
-- Tony Perry in San Diego and Shelby Grad
Photo: Archbishop Salvatore Joseph Cordileone. Credit: Marcio Joseph Sanchez / Associated Press
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Wine is a mocker,..
Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.
Proverbs 20:1
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Monday, March 05, 2012
Pros and cons of Sunday alcohol sales
WHAT PROPONENTS ARE SAYING
• The availability of retail alcohol on Sundays will draw shoppers to Augusta. Grovetown approved Sunday sales in November, but the rest of Columbia County residents won’t vote on the measure until July.
“The only way you receive the additional revenue is if you’re the first,” district Republican Party Chairman Dave Barbee said. Also, Augusta would lose Sunday sales business to other counties if they pass the measure and Augusta does not.
• It will mean more tax revenue. Augusta adds $2.7 million in wholesale excise taxes on packaged beer, wine and liquor to the city’s general fund every year. In Grovetown, the only city in the Georgia side of the region that has approved the sales, excise taxes connected with eight alcohol retailers have generated an additional $2,000 a month in revenue.
“So far, we haven’t seen any negative results,” Grovetown City Administrator Shirley Beasley said. Augusta has more than 400 retailers that would be eligible to sell alcohol.
• It will create license fees. Augusta officials haven’t determined whether an additional license will be required of retailers who want to sell alcohol on Sundays, though the referendum, if approved, would allow the city to permit and regulate Sunday package sales as of March 31.
“If you want to sell on Sundays, you’re going to have to pay the piper,” said Augusta Commission member Joe Jackson, who expects the referendum to pass. “That’s an additional revenue generator.”
• Why not? Adults can buy alcohol every other day of the week, and in restaurants on Sundays, so why not allow retailers to sell on Sundays?
“We like Sunday sales,” said Tim Schroer, the city’s deputy finance director, who grew up in Minnesota, where retail sales were prohibited on Sundays and recently got a thrill buying wine near Atlanta on a Sunday for the first time. Barbee said the availability of alcohol on Sundays is unlikely to increase consumption, only “spread the wealth from six days to seven days.”
• It will create jobs. Having a store open on Sunday will likely require some of the city’s 34 liquor stores to hire additional workers, while more than 300 other businesses engaged in alcohol sales might need more people to handle the extra Sunday traffic.
WHAT OPPONENTS ARE SAYING
• Sunday alcohol will increase crime.
“Alcohol is a contributing factor in many domestic-related calls,” sheriff’s Capt. Scott Gay said. “We anticipate an increase in domestic-related calls on Sundays because more people are drinking at home.”
• It will have limited economic benefits. Adopting Sunday retail alcohol sales will generate some additional revenue, but not that much.
“I just don’t see where it’s going to generate a significant amount,” Augusta Finance Director Donna Williams said. Augusta Commission member Jerry Brigham favors letting voters decide, but “I don’t think it’s going to be a windfall for us,” he said.
• It will have religious and family consequences. Pastors, especially in black churches, expect Sunday sales to be a topic in several of today’s sermons.
“The Bible speaks of what (excess consumption) can do to our thinking and our attitudes,” said the Rev. Larry Fryer, the pastor of Hudson Memorial CME Church. “With all the violence and criminal activity, those that misuse this substance can create additional problems in the community.” Retired Augusta State University political science professor Ralph Walker said he expected a city deeply rooted in the Bible Belt to vote the measure down. GOP party Chairman Dave Barbee recalled his youth when on Sundays they didn’t buy gasoline or go shopping, much less buy alcohol.
“We’ve strayed away from those hard-core biblical principles,” he said.
The Rev. K.B. Martin, the pastor of Antioch Baptist Church, agreed: “We’ve disregarded so many things relative to the day of worship. I would hope the Christian community would oppose Sunday sales.”
Pastor Bryan Cockrell, of Sanctuary Church, said his Pentecostal congregation believes, according to Scripture, “to remember the Lord’s day and keep it holy. I believe the focus on his day should be on Him.”
• Stopping illegal operations will be difficult. Augusta hasn’t determined whether to require an additional Sunday sales permit, but if it does, inspectors will have to ensure establishments lacking the permits aren’t selling on Sundays, city licensing Director Rob Sherman said.
• Liquor stores appreciate the day off. Phillip Song, the owner of Superstar Wine & Spirits on Deans Bridge Road, said he has considered placing “Vote No on Sunday Sales” on his sign because Sunday is a welcome day of rest for liquor store owners. Still, if his competitors start selling and he’s missing out, he’ll open: “I’m not going to open right away. If my sales go down, I’m going to start opening on Sunday.”
Source
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Sunday, January 22, 2012
Behind the Ban on Sunday Sales of Alcohol
The history of Connecticut’s blue state laws and how they influenced the sale of alcohol
Sparkling cider and sparkling wine at Cask 'n Keg in Mystic
Saturday. It’s a day off of work, a day full of household chores, the last day of the weekend to buy alcohol.
I can’t say Connecticut’s ban on Sunday sales of alcohol has ever affected me much. But then I grew up in Connecticut with the understanding that you buy your alcohol before 9 p.m. that the package stores closed on Sundays, and that for some inexplicable reason you can’t buy wine in the supermarkets.
It was years before I realized those norms were actually strange. The ban on Sunday sales of alcohol still seems to confuse many of my non-Connecticut native friends now living in the nutmeg state, even if they have lived here for years.
But why, they repeatedly ask.
Is it really that big of a deal if you know you can’t buy it beforehand, I repeatedly respond.
Apparently, though, it is a big deal, and my friends aren’t the only ones who think so. When Governor Dannel Malloy called for Sunday alcohol sales last week, it immediately caused the resumption of the debate on Sunday sales of alcohol, and called into question if our state is really ready to leave its Puritanical roots behind.
The Sunday ban on sales of alcohol dates back not to prohibition, but even further, to our Puritan heritage. According to state Senator Kevin Witkos of the 17th Assembly District, Connecticut has prohibited Sunday alcohol sales since about 1882.
But the idea really came about from when the state’s first government based in New Haven created the Blue Laws in the 1600s. Under the direction of Theophilus Eaton and Reverend John Cotton the blue laws, established in 1655, addressed public morality, and according toNetstate.com and The True Blue Laws of Connecticut and New Haven helped give our state it’s Blue Law State nickname.
While the ban on Sunday sales of alcohol was never really a blue law per se it prevented businesses up until the late 1970s from being open at all on Sundays. In fact, according to Witkos some business owners in the Olde Mistick Village were even arrested for violating the law.
But even though those blues laws were slowly challenged and repealed the ban on the Sunday sales of alcohol remained.
Today, Connecticut is one of only 13 states to prohibit the sale of alcohol on Sundays. Alabama, Indiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and West Virginia are the other states. Only Connecticut and Indiana, however, however completely ban beer, wine and liquor sales on Sundays, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States said in a press release.
Interestingly, the original blue state laws tried to regulate Sunday as a day of rest. Many of the package store owners I spoke with this week said they liked not being able to open on Sunday. The ban gives them time to spend with their families.
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