March 23, 2021 6:00 AM
Morning Reads for Tuesday, March 23
Good morning! Today is Day 37 of the 2021 Legislative Session. Here’s today’s House Rules Calendar; highlights include the bill that would suspend pay for public officers who have been indicted on a felony charge, and something having to do with flammable vegetation.
- If you read only one article today, it should be this in-depth and thoughtful overview of what’s happening with the drinking water in Juliette, Georgia, how it likely came to be so contaminated because of coal ash contamination, and how – and whether – Georgia Power will clean up the mess. It’s a compelling and complex “long-hidden story about ash and avarice.”
- Just as interesting as this article about Congressman Jody Hice’s announcement that he’s running for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State will be watching how the dominos fall in the Georgia House and Senate as potential Congressional candidates weigh their options for 2022.
- The Senate presses the gas on cocktails to go.
- Sports betting supporters believe it will shore up Georgia’s revenue prospects.
- One year ago, sales of hand sanitizer skyrocketed. So did calls to the Georgia Poison Center.
About Author
Teri
Teri Anulewicz is a Democrat who represents House District 42 in the Georgia General Assembly. She previously spent nearly a decade on the Smyrna City Council. A native New Orleanian and quasi-Texan, Teri graduated from Agnes Scott College in 1998. She's been a front page contributor since 2015, and she compiles each Tuesday's Morning Reads.
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Dear Raff,
Switch. Sides.
You work with numbers and trends all day long. The data is on your side to win as a Dem.
“The Senate presses the gas on cocktails to go”
It will be exciting in the metro areas to be going 70-80 mph on the interstate and the guy next to you is sipping on an old fashioned.
Just scanned the bill, and it does say the drinks need to be “sealed” (and are supposed to also be placed out of reach) but being out of reach may be impracticable, and the temptation to open will remain. I support the bill, and with the neat machines that can seal a can or bottle, it makes sense. That’s no different than transporting a can of beer from the grocery store or package store. But the only label requirement is one that identifies the restaurant. Why not add a stronger warning label, or ensure the label is prominent? Or even add a serious deterrent, and make it a distinct crime to unseal the can or bottle during transportation? That may seem redundant to an open container law, but it would be a little different, and if you add that criminal warning label, that may reduce the temptation or risk?
I’m a bit reluctant on the cocktails to go, but given the effects of the pandemic on restaurants and bars I get it. Perhaps it should only be a temporary measure? I have a mostly fond memory of the Happy Hour wars in Buckhead in the seventies with one escalation up to 5 for the price of 1 drink. “Go” cups were readily available at the door then too in order to save the glasses/mugs. Sometimes legislation is a good thing.
Taking the drive-thrus away from liquor stores for packaged liquor was just posturing though.
Back in the day, Georgia was “dry”, and eventually allowed alcohol sales on a county bu county basis. So, back in the day, UGA students had to drive up to Arcade, Georgia, where a beer store was strategically located. Much of the background for alcohol regulation in Georgia was a result of state legislators appearing to “do something” about alcohol so that they could return to their home counties and tell the church-going faithful.
There are some arcane twists and turns in Georgia’s regulation of alcohol sales. Those neon signs that say things like “Liquor” must be to a specified size and color. You cannot sell liquor in “the same room” with beer and wine. Liquor must be in a paper bag when it leaves the store. And, back in the 1970’s, there was serious discussion as to whether a store employee could carry a case of alcohol out to a customer’s automobile. The argument being that such an act constituted “delivering” alcohol. That one greatly irritated my somewhat elderly sherry-drinking mother, who liked the case discount prices. And, interestingly, more than a few regulations seemed to be there just to protect the distributors from competition.
By tradition, alcohol regulation still enjoys special attention in our General Assembly. And, there was a well worn joke about Baptists running into each other at the liquor store……
Back in the day, late 70’s and early 80’s when I used to work in SC about 30 minutes or so outside of Augusta, we would go to the Whipping Post and Electric Cowboy in Augusta. We thought GA was so forward and modern thinking when it came to alcohol since you could legally buy liquor and mixed drinks at 18 when in SC you were only allowed beer and wine though there was a liquor store near the college I went to that everybody knew would sell you liquor and not check IDs. I guess all of this is relative since those who lived here like you seem to think the liquor laws were arcane.
Started to include this on the Raffensperger thread but didn’t want to take it too far afield:
‘An all-hands moment’: GOP rallies behind voting limits
“On an invitation-only call last week, Sen. Ted Cruz huddled with Republican state lawmakers to call them to battle on the issue of voting rights. Democrats are trying to expand voting rights to “illegal aliens” and “child molesters,” he claimed, and Republicans must do all they can to stop them.”
https://apnews.com/article/legislature-voting-rights-ted-cruz-legislation-elections-6270306f67108ac16f4ee7b45a8afdb3
This is the marching tune for the Ever Trumpers like David Shafer, Jody Hice, etc. in their impetus to shrink their tent. You’ve got to ask yourself, Is this really a winning strategy?
A lot of these guys got into politics during the Tea Party days. This is all they know. They do not want to work with other moderate Republicans. So they have no desire to recruit. Their idea is to shrink the opposition, not work on recruiting moderates.
They will be fading out as the world changes. Kind of like what happened when the depression hit and Roosevelt started worked on saving the US economy. The Taft republicans lost their power and most of their popularity.
My good friend Dade County Commissioner Allan Bradford has passed away from complications of COVID. https://www.facebook.com/DadeCountyGA/photos/a.227518597897754/737017960281146
So sorry. This virus is so random in who it hits hardest.