Project RAD header
Find us on FacebookFollow us on TwitterVolume 128: March 25, 2013    

North Carolina: Plan for 3-ounce alcohol drink falls flat

March 20, 2013

  

State regulators on Wednesday rejected a brewer's plans to sell 3-ounce vials of high-alcohol malt beverage in North Carolina, saying they feared it would entice teens to drink.

 

Stout Brewing wanted to sell its Stout 21 malt beverage in grocery and convenience stores in such flavors as Margarita, Screwdriver and Apple Pie. The company bills the product as a "Flavored Alcoholic Shooter."

 

Mike Herring, administrator for the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission, noted that the 3-ounce can with the twist-off cap contains as much alcohol as a 12-ounce beer.

 

"In a matter of minutes, a person can gulp that container down and take one of these (four) packs and gulp it four times and have the equivalent of four, high-proof, 12-ounce beers," Herring told the ABC board. "You can just keep drinking these and drinking these, and the next thing you know, it's going to hit you, and you're not going to realize how much alcohol you've had."

 

Stout 21 would most likely appeal to underage drinkers, he said, because they could conceal the small container in a pocket or backpack. Also, the unusual packaging would make it harder for parents and law enforcement officers to recognize it as an alcoholic beverage, he said.

 

To read more, click this link: http://www.wral.com/plan-for-3-ounce-alcohol-drink-falls-flat/12247819/ 

 

Source: WRAL

MADD Announces opposition to privatization 

March 13, 2013

 

Mothers Against Drunk Driving has announced its opposition to the privatization of the retail sale of alcohol, a decision that should compel every lawmaker to oppose Gov. Corbett's reckless scheme to dismantle the state's Liquor Control Board.

 

MADD, the nation's largest nonprofit working to protect families from drunk driving and underage drinking, cited an analysis of 17 peer-reviewed studies conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in their position statement.

 

MADD stated that, "The CDC concluded that privatization of alcohol sales will result in a reduction in the enforcement of sales regulations including enforcement of the minimum legal drinking age. Therefore, policies or legislation transferring state alcohol control to private control are counter to MADD's mission of eliminating drunk driving and preventing underage drinking."

 

Gov. Corbett has proposed dismantling the LCB and adding up to 30,000 retail outlets for the sale of beer, wine and spirits in the Commonwealth. The scheme would jeopardize 5,000 family-sustaining jobs that the LCB provides, along with 1,100 Main Street beer distributors and the 10,000 Pennsylvanians they employ.

 

Despite widespread opposition, Gov. Corbett told The Philadelphia Inquirer that, "I have not had one person . . . tell me this is a mistake."

 

"Obviously, the governor is not listening. He is just completely out of touch with working Pennsylvanians and he has decided to ignore the experts," said Wendell W. Young IV, President, UFCW Local 1776, and Chairman of the UFCW PA Wine & Spirits Council.

 

To read more, click this link: http://www.sacbee.com/2013/03/13/5259489/madd-announces-opposition-to-privatization.html  

 

Source: The Sacramento Bee

Texas: Witnesses testify about pros, cons of Sunday liquor sales

March 19, 2013

 

A state House committee heard testimony Tuesday on legislation allowing Texas liquor stores to open on Sunday but a statewide association representing hundreds of package stores registered opposition to the measure.

 

In a hearing before the House Licensing and Administrative Procedures Committee, supporters said a bill by State Rep. Senfronia Thompson would generate millions in state revenue and remove one of the last vestiges of Texas "blue laws," the never-on-Sunday restrictions once imposed on a wide swath of Texas retailers.

 

Texans can sip mixed drinks at bars and restaurants on Sunday and can run to the grocery store to buy beer and wine, but the state's 2,500 liquor stores have been forced to close on Sundays under a decades-old law.

 

"You ought to be able to tote your distilled spirits home just like you tote your beer and wine," Thompson, D-Houston, told fellow committee members.

 

But Lance Lively, president of the Texas Package Store Association, said the bill is widely unpopular among the 900 liquor stores represented by his organization. A poll in advance of this year's legislative session showed that 90 percent of the membership opposed the measure, he told committee members.

 

The additional overhead and expenses of staying open an extra day would offset any potential earnings, he said. Lively also dismissed supporters' arguments that retailers would have the option of continuing to open six days a week.

 

"One store's open, the rest of them are going to have to be open," he said. "It's about customer service. You don't want to lose that customer maybe because you want to take a day off and the guy down the street wants to be open."

 

To read more, click this link: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/03/19/4715249/witnesses-testify-about-pros-cons.html

 

Source: Star-Telegram 

Washington: Liquor shoplifting: Did initiative create a problem? 

March 20, 2013

 

Did Initiative 1183, the state's liquor privatization measure, create a liquor shoplifting problem in Washington?

 

So far, our legislators don't know.

 

A work group convened by the head of the state House's government accountability committee to address liquor shoplifting left its first meeting Monday with more questions than answers.

 

The group, dubbed the "Post-Privatization Workgroup on Alcohol Diversion, Access and Loss Prevention," spent much of its time just trying to get a handle on the issue, as representatives from various grocery corporations and associations took turns saying how little information they had about the crime.

 

About halfway through the meeting, after representatives of grocers and grocers' associations said that they had not brought hard numbers to share with the group, Enumclaw Democratic Rep. Chris Hurst asked: "How do we get to the question of do we have a problem, and if so how big is it?"

 

Typically, workgroups assembled in the Legislature study issues to decide if a change to the law is necessary; if one is, they often will also help prepare the first draft of a bill. Since Hurst's committee only began meeting halfway through this legislative session, well after several key deadlines, any changes or proposals the committee might decide to recommend likely would not see a larger vote in the Legislature until next year.

 

Hurst said he convened the group in response to a request from House Speaker Rep. Frank Chopp, D-Seattle, and that he and Chopp shared the feeling that the shoplifting question warranted further investigation. Liquor shoplifting, especially by teens, has been covered extensively by newspapers around the state since the 2011 initiative switched liquor sales from state-run stores to private groceries.

 

"I've noticed a big change, personally," Hurst said. "When I went out and saw alcohol being displayed right by the front door, that was a problem."

 

To read more, click this link: http://crosscut.com/2013/03/20/olympia-2013/113522/liquor-shoplifting-did-initiative-create-problem/ 

 

Source: Crosscut 

Washington: Liquor Control Board proposes 20-mile buffer for small stores

March 13, 2013

 

The Liquor Control Board on Wednesday finally revealed what it wants to do about the so-called "mini-mart loophole" that opponents of liquor privatization warned in 2011 would cause an explosion of small stores selling hard liquor.

 

The board proposed allowing small stores only in locations that are 20 miles or more from existing stores - a standard it figures would permit roughly 20 additional liquor shops in the state.

 

Such a strict buffer is sure to disappoint many of the 170 applicants for a liquor license under the trade-area exemption that Initiative 1183 provided.

 

Jill Prukop has been waiting more than a year for a response to her application.

 

Her store in Randle, Fischer's Market IGA, sits halfway between the two nearest communities with places to buy hard liquor, Morton and Packwood. It has a meat cutter, a produce area, even a place to buy shirts and socks. But there's one thing it doesn't have.

 

"Customers come into the store and say, 'Where's the nearest liquor store?' I say, 'It's 17 miles either way you go,' (and they say,) 'I guess we're drinking wine.'"

 

During the 2011 campaign for state liquor privatization, there were competing predictions about what would happen after state stores closed.

 

From one side, voters heard

 

I-1183 would prevent convenience stores or mini-marts from getting into the liquor business. From the other side, they heard about a "loophole" that would lead to more than 900 small sellers.

 

The voter-approved measure limits outlets to 10,000 square feet or more - with two notable exceptions. One is for former state stores and contract stores. The other is for trade areas where no big store has opened.

 

Expansion of liquor stores under the board's proposed definition for trade area would pale in comparison to what has already happened under privatization. Around the state, 1,428 stores sell spirits, more than four times the 329 that existed before the law passed.

 

"Access obviously isn't an issue" statewide, liquor board Chairwoman Sharon Foster said before voting to propose the rule. "But it is an issue in some of these areas that we're going to try to serve."

 

Foster and Ruthann Kurose voted to propose the rule, while Chris Marr was absent. Now a public process starts that will give people the chance to weigh in with written comments through April 24 and a public hearing on that day. The board would finalize the rule on May 1, and it would take effect June 1.

 

Among those watching closely are the people who bought the rights to the former state stores at auction for a collective $31 million. They want the greatest possible distance from competitors paying less than $200 for a license.

 

"I am 100 percent positive that the auction would not have gone at that level" had owners known about all the competition they could face, said Tacoma store owner David Cho. A 20-mile radius "would only harm their business," he said.

 

Many stores have gone out of business. Some owners of the rights have been unable to open. The president of the owners group, Jasmel Sangha, said the buffer zone should apply to all the locations where rights were purchased, even if the stores aren't open.

 

To read more, click this link:http://www.thenewstribune.com/2013/03/13/2512455/liquor-control-board-offers-strict.html

 

Source: The News Tribune 

Visit our website: Project RAD  www.ProjectRAD.com     
View our videos on YouTubeFind us on FacebookFollow us on Twitter