Childhood Friend Got Collared

[VeeJay]

Saw this whilst persuing the public records on my hometown newspaper online edition last night. He was nabbed on 12/21/05:

(Name of guy) 11/01/1959, (Address), cont. subst. x2; poss alcohol in dry county; cont. subst.: paraphernalia; cont. subst.: poss. marijuana in vehicle - over 1 gram, under 1 kilo; cont. subst.: possession of schedule I or II other than marijuana

I haven't heard much from this cat in a long, long time. I knew he was a party animal back around, oh, 1980 or so. In fact, we went boozin' with the same crowd a time or two.

I don't even know if he's married, kids, whatever. I do know I'm a hell of a long way removed at age 46 from driving around in my car drinking and toking and whatever else falls under "schedule I or II other than marijuana."

Geez - when do people grow the hell up?

[OklahomaTrombone]

wait...so there are counties in floriduh that you can't even have alcohol?

[12]

I found an old buddy of mine was up to the same mischief the exact same way not long ago. He had enough coke to be an old coke-having thing. Married, two kids, coaching job... ****ed away now, I suppose.

[DCSooner]

Some days you're the hammer, others you're the nail. That's all I'm gonna say bout that.

[VeeJay]

wait...so there are counties in floriduh that you can't even have alcohol?

I do not know if there are dry counties in FL, but the guy is still in Mississippi, which is where I did my heavy duty partying growing up.

I could see guys in their 20's, even 30's, running afoul of the law in this fashion. But at what point or age do people finally get it together? I think it's a little unusual for a guy this age to still be doing the stuff he did when he was 19.

To each their own, and I'm not judging him, but is a wake up call at age 46 gonna happen??

[Okla-homey]

We have an ex-preacher here in Tulsa who never grew up either.;)

[StoopTroup]

Just say no.

[BoomerJack]

"poss alcohol in dry county"

I don't understand this charge at all. What kind of fundamentalist Christian taliban government would enact such an ordinance?

Can you please shed some light on this for me. If anything else, tell me/us where it is so that I can avoid it like the plague.

[KaiserSooner]

"poss alcohol in dry county"

I don't understand this charge at all. What kind of fundamentalist Christian taliban government would enact such an ordinance?

Can you please shed some light on this for me. If anything else, tell me/us where it is so that I can avoid it like the plague.

Well, it's in Mississippi. So just avoid the entire state. ;)

[Frozen Sooner]

Fundamentalist Christian? There's a bunch of boroughs up here where you can't possess alcohol.

[VeeJay]

The Deep South is dotted with counties where the sale of alcohol is prohibited. I visited the Jack Daniels Distillery in Tennessee many years ago, and it is actually in a "dry" county. Meaning they can make the stuff but not consume it.

It just goes back to a mix of prohibition and the heavy hand of the Bible Belt. Where this happened is in a county that is technically "dry" but as particular areas have gotten developed and populations have grown, towns or communities have relaxed the laws. You can consume beer or light wine but no liquor in some towns in restaurants. And inside those towns you can buy beer by the six pack or twelve pack only - no singles. And probably on Sunday mornings the beer coolers have yellow tape on them or the coller door are locked until 12 noon.

When the cops are busting someone, they'll include the "possession of alcohol in a dry county" to trump up the charges, but that's the least of his worries. The drug possession thingey didn't help this guy very much, I'm sure.

[BoomerJack]

My apologies; the fundamentalist Christian comment was over the top.

I am aware of similar laws in other locations. One is at the housing area of an Indian reservation in Oklahoma and another in a jurisdiction on Galveston Island.

But thanks for the heads up about Mississippi.

[salth2o]

A childhood friend of mine is on Texas' Death Row...

On 03/12/2000, ***** caused the death of a 32 year old female. ##### kidnapped the victim, then murdered her by strangulation and blunt force trauma. The victim's body was found along side a county road.