Greetings friend. Our Mayor and Board of Aldermen are at it again. Last night (March 20) I attended the Board meeting at City Hall to hear the reading of our leaders’ latest method of forced control: the keg ordinance.
First, there was no actual reading, but rather, a brief discussion of lawyerly language: purchase vs. possession — who will be liable under this new ordinance, the person who purchases the keg or the one whose house it ends up at? The answer, of course, will be both.
Since the proposed ordinance is not yet published, I must report from memory. Forgive me if I only hit the high points or misunderstood what I heard.
You can only purchase one keg at a time.
You cannot purchase a keg on the weekend – you can pick it up on Saturday, but it must be paid for on Friday.
Anyone purchasing a keg must register where the keg is going, which will be filed with the City Clerk (and of course, promptly turned over to our friends in blue).
When you register a keg, it gets a stamp. If you don’t have a stamp, you must have purchased your keg elsewhere in order to skirt registration, and that too, will be against the law.
The supposed goal of this ordinance is to curb underage (as well as binge) drinking; which if true, would be a noble idea. However, since there is no shortage of laws already on the books pertaining to underage purchase and consumption of alcohol, nor a lack of definitive regulations as too how much one may legally consume in public or before getting behind the wheel, we must question the necessity of this latest assault on our rights.
Our leaders can call it what they want, but really this ordinance is nothing more than Big Brother’s latest attempt to track down the party, and monitor our behavior even behind closed doors. Is it not enough that by law, one must register for a permit to hold a large party anyway? Do we need to allow the government one more right to enter our homes?
I’m not a lawyer, but I must ponder if a blatant violation of probable cause and search and seizure law is in the works. In other words, if a police officer were to come to your home, he or she would have NO RIGHT to enter, unless there were probable cause that some sort of illegal behavior is occurring within the home. If you register your keg, under this new ordinance, you just gave them that probable cause.
The proposed keg ordinance is also one more way this Mayor and Board is attempting to hurt small business. What if I owned a store that sold kegs? This ordinance would dramatically reduce the number I could sell to any one customer, thus cutting terribly into my potential income (which seems to be something this administration has no problem with and has become quite talented at).
Now, I must be fair. The one keg rule was discussed briefly last night. Apparently this part of the ordinance might interfere with a wedding party (or some such), and one must consider the grander affairs over the backyard kegger after a football game. Don’t be surprised if that part of the ordinance is nixed to give the appearance of compromise.
Remember: the real kicker is the registration — just in case you forget the number to 911 and require a friendly public servant to check on your party. Don’t worry; they’ll be there…
Let me be clear, I do not condone underage drinking or the adult provision of alcohol to minors. I also do not condone binge drinking – but I’m realistic, and have been known to take a good time too far myself (on occasion). But again, we already have laws concerning those issues.
So my question is this: How many more times will we allow this Mayor and Board of Aldermen to infringe upon our personal lives and to tie the hands of small business? They are shooting from the hip, and we are the targets. Did the principles of American life change when I wasn’t looking?
If you agree with any of my points, please attend the next Open Meeting and make your voice heard. If we don’t, who will?
Thanks for reading.
Post Script (for the benefit of our leaders who did NOT know last night): 1 keg equals approximately 100 pints, depending on foam, and that’s about 133 12oz servings.
