Dry counties?

[SingleStack]

Hey all. So tennessee has dry counties. what does that actualy mean? are sales just restricted or is possesion ilegal too? Im not one to drink at restaurants or bars, but like a few drinks at home. can i be arrested or fined for bringing a bottle of whiskey into my home if its a dry county? I know alot of this info can be found on websites but its easier to understand coming from a real person. Thanks for any answers.

[gregintenn]

Macon county sells beer at convenience stores/grocery stores. No wine or distilled spirits anywhere. No beer sold on Sundays. No alcohol served in restuarants. Others can chime in on their locations.

[RED333]

Dry means no sales of any kind, you can buy over the county line and bring it back into the county for your use.

If ya drink, go buy it, take it home and enjoy.

[Oh Shoot]

Dry means no sales of any kind, you can buy over the county line and bring it back into the county for your use.

If ya drink, go buy it, take it home and enjoy.

There are still counties in TN that don't even sell beer?

Grainger county didn't when I last lived out that way, but that was long ago?

- OS

Edited September 30, 2012 by OhShoot

[Romad7]

There are counties that are partially dry. Here we couldn't get wine club shipments for a while but I had them shipped 15 mins down the road and picked them up. Restaurants here serve everything though. The rules are always changing though, we can get shipments now.

[SingleStack]

im thinking about living in knoxeville. oh and by the way i prefer my beverages oraly not the way that some students choose to consume it

[Mike.357]

what RED said.

I make lots of sales to people from dry counties, fraternities too.

[quietguy]

Hey all. So tennessee has dry counties. what does that actualy mean? are sales just restricted or is possesion ilegal too? Im not one to drink at restaurants or bars, but like a few drinks at home. can i be arrested or fined for bringing a bottle of whiskey into my home if its a dry county? I know alot of this info can be found on websites but its easier to understand coming from a real person. Thanks for any answers.

Local governments can still restrict the sales of alcohol, but not the consumption IIRC. Last time I looked, there were still a few dry counties, and even more local governments that didn't allow serving liquor by the drink (establishments that serve alcohol).

[Mike.357]

you bring up a good point quiet guy, about restricting sales but not consumption,

On what legal grounds does Tennessee declare UTK a no alcohol at all zone? Well except for gamedays. And that is a joke anyway, plenty of booze on campus for 7 or 8 Saturdays. How do they pick and choose what laws to enforce based on the particular day involved?

[quietguy]

you bring up a good point quiet guy, about restricting sales but not consumption,

On what legal grounds does Tennessee declare UTK a no alcohol at all zone? Well except for gamedays. And that is a joke anyway, plenty of booze on campus for 7 or 8 Saturdays. How do they pick and choose what laws to enforce based on the particular day involved?

IIRC, the legal authority is granted under the TN Controlled Substance Act. I would have to research to verify.

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Grainger still isn't a dry county... but Blaine is..;p

Edited September 30, 2012 by Dolomite_supafly

[Sam1]

Hey all. So tennessee has dry counties. what does that actualy mean? are sales just restricted or is possesion ilegal too? Im not one to drink at restaurants or bars, but like a few drinks at home. can i be arrested or fined for bringing a bottle of whiskey into my home if its a dry county? I know alot of this info can be found on websites but its easier to understand coming from a real person. Thanks for any answers.

County where I grew up was dry up until it went "moist" a few years back and just went "wet" 2 weeks ago.

When it was dry, everything was just illegal. No exceptions. Moist allowed certain sit down restaurants to server drinks with food but nothing could leave the place of business. You were still not allowed to have anything personally outside of those designated restaurants. When they went wet 2 weeks ago, everything is allowed form package stores to bars.

[quietguy]

County where I grew up was dry up until it went "moist" a few years back and just went "wet" 2 weeks ago.

When it was dry, everything was just illegal. No exceptions. Moist allowed certain sit down restaurants to server drinks with food but nothing could leave the place of business. You were still not allowed to have anything personally outside of those designated restaurants. When they went wet 2 weeks ago, everything is allowed form package stores to bars.

Legally, I do not think that your statement is correct. I do not think that a county or municipality can restrict consumption, but only sale, manufacture, and distribution. Outside of a couple of "recreational designations", counties and incorporated municipalities have the right to chose whether they want to license retail establishments or establishments that can server alcohol. There is State oversight of some specific requirements (distance from church, schools,etc), but the local government is usually the primary authority.

Tennessee's alcohol legislation needs to be updated and revised. Robert Lipman, David Ingram, etc have a license to print money in this state, and all in the name of simplified tax collection. Amazing what you can do for the family business when you are of low character and rise to the post of Speaker of the House (and later Governor).

Edited September 30, 2012 by quietguy

[Oh Shoot]

Grainger still is not a dry county... but Blaine is..;p

Seriously, though .. you can buy beer during the week now in Grainger?

Edited September 30, 2012 by Dolomite_supafly

[Mike.357]

thought you had to hit the Knox County line to buy beer when coming in on Rutledge Pk.

Of course I learned this from OS

[Oh Shoot]

thought you had to hit the Knox County line to buy beer when coming in on Rutledge Pk.

Of course I learned this from OS

Mike, I told ya that's the way it was when I lived out that way (ceptin for bootleggers) but wondering if it still is for sure.

I'm beginning to think it is, 'cause I didn't notice any as we came down 11w, but I didn't really pay any attention till we got into Blaine area.

- OS

Edited September 30, 2012 by OhShoot

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

Yeah we are still dry as a fart in the wind..

[Dolomite_supafly]

Grainger is dry of liquor sales but beer is allowed. The city of Blaine is dry of all alcohol or at least no licenses have been approved for the sale of alcohol within the city limits. It is like every other small town, it must go through an approval process and if it is what some old bitty considers sinful it will be voted down. That is unless the old bitty can make a buck then it will pass. The city even passed an ordinance to prevent the sale of lottery tickets.

Dolomite

[Dolomite`s Breezy]

I was wrong.. ...

Its to early for me to make any posts.. going back to bed

[Guest 6.8 AR]

We all have our moments, Sour Kraut. You go to bed and I get a call to work, and I'm on medical leave.

My employer has plenty of moments.

[Sam1]

Legally, I do not think that your statement is correct. I do not think that a county or municipality can restrict consumption, but only sale, manufacture, and distribution. Outside of a couple of "recreational designations", counties and incorporated municipalities have the right to chose whether they want to license retail establishments or establishments that can server alcohol. There is State oversight of some specific requirements (distance from church, schools,etc), but the local government is usually the primary authority.

Tennessee's alcohol legislation needs to be updated and revised. Robert Lipman, David Ingram, etc have a license to print money in this state, and all in the name of simplified tax collection. Amazing what you can do for the family business when you are of low character and rise to the post of Speaker of the House (and later Governor).

Legal or not, they did it for the 17 years I lived there. It was Pulaski County, KY if you wanted to look up the specifics on it.

We lived by Lake Cumberland where the majority of visitors were from Ohio (we called them the Ohio Navy cause there was so dang many of them) and they would bring their own alcohol for their vacation homes/rentals. I couldn't tell you how many times we seen people getting ticketed/arrested for possessing at their property.

[Mike.357]

about thirty years ago I went to Lake Cumberland with a bunch of guys for a 3 day houseboating adventure. We had plenty of beer and had a couple of extra kegs at a marina's little store in their walk in box. Not sure of what county it was though.

[quietguy]

It was Pulaski County, KY

I was talking about Tennessee law

[strickj]

Now that the question has been answered.... let me ask something.

What is the thought process behind dry counties?

Several years ago, I unknowingly booked a hotel just outside UKY in Lexington. Figured I'd be smart and stay outside of Lexington for the week to avoid all the game(s) traffic.

Since then I always double check and will not book a hotel or visit an area if it's dry.

Surely I can't be the only one that avoids dry counties. Don't they realize how much money and businesses they are loosing?

[Sam1]

It's because of the churches and the reduced mental capacity of many people from small towns. Everyone goes to church there and the preacher tells people that alcohol is the cause of rapes, murders, kidnappings, looting etc... and everyone in the congregation should not allow it to be voted on and passed. ( I sat through many of those services growing up).

Having a large amount of tourism coming in for the lake, it made sense to sell booze. But they wouldn't so people just brought their own and the locals drove 60 miles up the road and bought it. The county was loosing tens of millions of dollars annually in lost revenue because of it. When the few places went moist, just in the small towns near the lake, it brought in multiple new businesses and brought in enough income to buy a new city hall, new cops cars, extra cops, upgraded the entire city's water and sewer system etc.. After the other cities seen that the entire place wasn't going to burn down and kids weren't getting molested like the preacher said would happen, they finally got on board and sold so much beer on the first day at one store that they emptied out two entire semi-trailers in 4 hours (this was two weeks ago).

They were going broke because the lake is down about 50 feet or so because of the dam rebuild happening, and no one wants to come anymore. Hopefully this will bring enough of an infusion of cash to keep the place running so they don't have to raise taxes on everyone.