Every state in the US probably has a few silly beer laws that make little sense to most people. Many of them are outdated or brought about by giant companies like Budweiser or religious reasons… No beer or wine on Christmas in Michigan? I Michigan politicians feel Jesus preferred apple cider to red wine on his birthdays. It really does upsets me when politicians feel that THEIR holidays should be observed in THEIR way, especially, when its a religious holiday…. remember, America is all about Freedom of Religion.. right? Well if its the case, why is drinking a glass of wine on Christmas a criminal offense if you are not even a Christian? hmmm… Well if it wasn’t for hypocrites, we would have no politicians at all.. bust people on ethics violations in the morning and bang hookers at night. Seems about right, hey back to silly beer laws.

Michigan has repealed most of its silly laws, but every Yuletide it turns into a Grinch. It’s against the law to serve alcohol on Christmas Day, even in restaurants serving holiday buffets. And silliness persists at the local level.

Anyway, here is a small summary of some US beer laws that some micro brewers and beer lovers have issues with.

Ask the members of Georgians for World Class Beer. They’ve been lobbying state legislators to repeal a 1935 law prohibiting the sale of beer having more than six percent alcohol. This archaic definition of “beer” keeps Belgian dubbels and tripels, German doppelbocks, and American barleywines off the store shelves.

A bill that would have repealed the six-percent limit was defeated once again last year. Opponents of repeal carried the day with the age-old argument: extra-strength beers would end up in the hands of teenagers looking for a quick buzz. Never mind that a high-schooler’s beer of choice is more likely to be Molson Ice than Paulaner Salvator.

Georgia’s strong-beer prohibition is nothing compared to Utah’s 3.2-percent limit on draft beer, which earned the state worldwide notoriety during the Winter Olympics. If you’ve had a pint of bitter in a British pub or a mug of Czech lager in a Prague beer hall, you know it’s possible to brew great beer with a relatively low alcohol content. But that isn’t the point: Utah’s 3.2 law prevents that state’s craft brewers from turning out a wide range of styles.

Until recently, florida-stupid-laws/" title="silly and dumb laws florida state">Florida, the state that invented Spring Break, had one of the nation’s silliest beer laws. Passed in 1965, it required containers to be one of four sizes: eight, 12, 24, or 32 ounces. The law, a by-product of a long-forgotten spat between Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing, posed no problem for the brewing giants. But craft brewers that preferred 22-ounce “bombers,” and European brewers using metric-sized bottles, were out of luck.

Lawmakers not only dictate what beers you can drink, but where and when you can buy them. Many states ban the sale of beer in grocery stores. Oklahoma goes one step further, forcing its citizens to go to state liquor stores to buy beer stronger than 3.2 percent. In Connecticut, beer can’t be sold after 8 pm, bringing to mind Yogi Berra’s line, “It gets late out early.” And Sunday remains a hit-or-miss proposition for traveling beer lovers; archaic blue laws ban package sales, and, in some states, force bars to close.

Man detained briefly while representing DWI client.

By Steven Kreytak
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF

Friday, March 21, 2008

An Austin defense lawyer was jailed last week after being accused of making a lewd gesture at a judge while in court representing a client on charges of driving while intoxicated.

Adam Reposa, 33, was held in contempt of court by County-Court-at-Law Judge Jan Breland for his “intentional and contumacious conduct during the court’s review of the plea bargain offer to his client before jury trial.”

Reposa, who could not be reached for comment, “made a simulated masturbatory gesture with his hand while making eye contact with the court in response to an objection by the state to his interference with the court plea bargain inquiry,” Breland wrote in a judgment of criminal contempt of court filed March 11.

Breland, who also could not be reached, noted that she and prosecutor Richard Gentry witnessed the gesture and “acknowledged so on the record.”

Breland ordered Reposa taken into custody and returned to court the next morning for a sentencing hearing. Handwritten on the bottom of the order above the initials “JB” was: “No bond without my approval.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Jefferson eyes bong-sale ban Wednesday, March 19, 2008

We’ve included this informational video for those of you who need to learn about the horrors of Marijuana, and how to spot illegal paraphernalia.

JEFFERSON TOWNSHIP — Local bong sales could go up in smoke beginning with a council discussion tonight.

The council agenda includes a sample drug-paraphernalia ordinance outlawing a long list of “all equipment, products and materials of any kind” that could be used for “introducing into the human body a controlled dangerous substance.”

The law echoes state statute. However, while the state law limits having the paraphernalia in the context of possession or distribution of drugs, the Jefferson ordinance to be discussed could outlaw the sale of anything in the township that could be construed as paraphernalia in the township without a connection to having or selling controlled substances.

Jefferson police Lt. Eric Wilsusen said Jefferson police are looking to limit the sale of potential drug tools and apparatus in two particular Route 15 gas stations. The Getty and Exxon stations recently sold what could be used as drug paraphernalia, particularly implements such as glass pipes and other filtration systems that could be used to smoke marijuana.

Getty voluntarily removed the targeted merchandise from the store, but the counter of the Exxon store still is covered with multiple pipes and other paraphernalia that could be used to smoke marijuana.

Wilsusen said the ordinance suggested by the police to the council is an attempt to avoid a drug problem, or even “nip it in the bud,” by banning the items for sale within the community.

“Obviously, this concerns us,” Wilsusen said. “I guess you can claim if you’re selling these things that people are smoking tobacco out of them, but we all know what it’s used for.”

Mayor Russell Felter and Township Attorney Lawrence Cohen could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Wilsusen said the Jefferson council is using an East Rutherford ordinance passed in 1984 as a template for the Jefferson law.

East Rutherford police say the law has gone unchallenged and apparently has worked as it was intended. Deputy Chief Larry Minda said he considers their ordinance a success over the last two decades, especially considering the development that has sprung up with the sports complex in the borough.

“It actually works well … the foresight was there,” Minda said.

East Rutherford also has ordinances limiting the sale of spray paint to combat graffiti, and cracking down on public cigarette smoking by juveniles, Minda said. Like those, the local drug paraphernalia law sets the atmosphere for the town and curbs problems before they happen, he said.

“I think it serves as an example and a barometer … and it’s worked out very well,” Minda said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey’s spokeswoman said she had not heard of the East Rutherford or Jefferson ordinances covering the sale of drug paraphernalia. Executive Director Deborah Jacobs said state law already addresses the issues clearly.

“I haven’t heard from other municipalities passing ordinances like this,” she said. “I would assume it’s because state law covers this.”

Current legal precedents indicate that pipes and other smoking devices sold at the Exxon and other places are legal, if their potential use for controlled substances is not advertised or otherwise specifically known by the seller. This was partially determined in such cases as the 1980 U.S. District Court decision Knoedler vs. Township of Roxbury. In the case, the owner of a shop called Nature’s Head successfully defended his rights to sell potentially unlawful drug paraphernalia.

However, the judges’ opinion also said the spirit of the ordinance was well-founded, but it simply outlawed too many items that might have legal uses, such as various pipes that could also be used for tobacco.

“The ordinance is aimed at a legitimate target, the sale of paraphernalia utilized in connection with illegal drugs, but its impact is too broad,” wrote Judge H. Lee Sarokin. “It is a cannon where an arrow is more appropriate.”

Still, that kind of determination does not seem realistic to many people, said Wilsusen.

“The last I checked, there aren’t too many people hand-rolling their cigarettes anymore … let alone smoking tobacco out of 5-foot bongs,” Wilsusen said.

However, the situation could resolve itself before council even gets to vote on a potential ordinance.

The unnamed manager of the Jefferson Exxon said he wants to avoid the stigma of carrying items that might run afoul of the law and said he likely will send them back with the wholesaler later this week.