Back on the Vino Box

I’m pretty sure ya’ll know by now that I’ve been on a rant over the lack of wine sales at the grocer for months now.

My tirade was further inflamed yesterday when I stopped by the pharmacy where I found rows of beer gleaming brightly next to the soda cans.

Really? Come on!



I can buy beer to wash down my narcotic prescription and over the counter meds, but I can’t conveniently get a bottle of vino to complement my pasta. Good grief! More TN Parliament brilliance!

Well in case I haven’t provided you with enough links in my previous vino rants here it is again, but this time with a twist.

I’m pimping votes for $$$grub$$$$.

Seriously I need your help my kids eat a lot, especially with it being Spring Break and all. I need the wine just to survive my grocery checkout totals!

The Red White and Food Camp, is giving away grocery money for recruiting for the cause. So here is my plea. Check out the Red White and Food, send a letter, follow them on Twitter, join them on FaceBook, then vote for my bloggie post.

Get involved or find our more here:
http://www.redwhiteandfood.com/socmediaday2010/contests

In the meantime I have combined my last two blog rants and stats from the RW&F into a letter to my State Reps, I actually got a response from Senator Bill Ketron.

This was my letter:

“I am writing once again to ask you to support the sale of wine in food stores.The opponents of this change claim repeatedly that allowing wine sales in food stores would create a safety hazard for Tennesseans. The facts tell another story and show there is no correlation between wine sales in food stores and public safety.

 One lawmaker has been brass enough to imply that such grocery store sales would have our streets lined with empty wine bottles and inebriated bodies. Well we all know that a wine drunk is the worst kind, I much prefer my drunks to have downed a forty. Thank goodness, we wont see these type of sales here anytime soon!

 My children can buy huffing supplies such as; glue, hairspray, whipped cream, spray paint, markers, liquid paper, WD-40, Lysol, nail polish, polish remover, rubbing alcohol, and Pine Sol at our local grocer.

I can buy rat poison, antifreeze, lottery tickets, cough syrup, diet pills, and cigarettes all proven venues for ill health and irresponsibility, yet I can buy them at my neighborhood market. I can buy a beer or razor blades, but not a bottle of wine because I reside outside one of the 33 states that allow wine sales in a grocery store. Apparently wine poses a much higher risk of volatility.

Really? Not when you compare FBI arrest data from these states with the 17 states that prohibit sales.

Average per capita arrests in states allowing wine sales in food stores

2005: 872 arrests, 2006: 892 arrests, 2007: 908 arrests, 2008: 923 arrests

Per capita arrests in states prohibiting wine sales in food stores.

2005: 1,048 arrests, 2006: 1,045 arrests, 2007: 1,057 arrests, 2008: 1,054 arrests.

Do the math; states prohibiting wine sales in food stores are higher every year than states that allow wine sales in food stores. The results are the same for people under age 18.

I’m not trying to promote irresponsible drinking, I think that if people are going to act irresponsibly their going to do it regardless of how inconvenient you make it for them. It is unfair that lawmakers run amuck based on their own personal beliefs, values, and their reelection statuses. As an over 21 consumer I would simply like to buy a bottle of wine to go with my dinner at my discretion without having to parade my children through the liquor store. There is nothing political involved here.

Is there some hard fast statistical data that shows wine sales are responsible for more fatalities? Does wine increase my chances of addiction? Are Super Bowl wine sales the number one cause of DWIs? I am not buying it and would remind you that prohibition ended in the 1920's.

You wanna put guns in bars because that makes so much more sense than a bottle of vino next to the bread, right? I can drink and dance the night away with the potential of getting shot! What a rush, alcohol and gunpowder together, just like the Wild West! Woo hoo, just thrilling, I can hardly wait!

Those passengers allowed to legally ride around with open containers (statue 55-10-416 states open container violation occurs when an open container is in the possession of the driver not the possession a passenger) can designate their gun slinging buds as driver!

You can see the data comparisons on the wine debate @ redwhiteandfood.wordpress.com. Where the data clearly shows there is no correlation between wine sales in food stores and public safety.

As my representative, I hope that you will see past the hyperbole and consider the facts as you weigh your position on this issue.

SOURCE: The Red White & Food campaign studied data from the FBI's Uniform Crime Reports; reports capture three types of alcohol offenses: DUI, drunkenness and liquor laws. The campaign studied results from 2005 to 2008, which is the most recent data available.

Using the population data supplied in the UCRs, the campaign calculated the per capita number of offenses for all categories and for DUIs specifically. http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/ucr.htm "

Vote or find out more here: http://redwhiteandfood.wordpress.com/