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A wine store explains why you should vote No on Question 1
By adamg on Wed, 11/01/2006 - 3:08pm
Beacon Hill Wines and Spirits has a blog and uses it to explain why Question 1 backers are lying about who would be able to sell wine should the measure pass and why it matters.
However, the author also says he has yet to see a single Vote No on 1 ad on TV, which means he is either the only person in the entire state who hasn't seen the ads about blood running in the streets or he only watches Channel 2.
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Comments
Will people under 21 be allowed to ring up alcohol purchases?
In Washington State, where you can buy beer and wine (but not liquor) in any grocery store or convenience store, people have to be 21 to run the register at stores that sell alcohol. In some smaller stores that do very minimal alcohol sales (Pier 1, which sells a couple of wine and beer samplers, comes to mind), they'll hire underage people as cashiers, but there will be a sign saying "no alcohol sales at this register."
If wine in grocery stores passed in MA, would this mean that teenagers could no longer work as checkers? I've not seen anyone who appeared under 21 working in a liquor store here; does anyone know whether there are laws regarding underage people selling alcohol? Regardless of my thoughts about drinking ages, it would seem flawed to allow someone who isn't old enough to possess alcohol to sell it (and to decide who gets to complete a purchase of it).
Would this lead to teenagers losing job opportunities?
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
Also interesting
People under 21 can't buy liquor, but they can decide the fate of this ballot question.
Well the whole 21 thing is jacked-up anyway
...given that pretty much every other adult right happens at 18. People 18-20 who aren't under guardianship can vote, own property, get drafted when applicable, enlist in the military, get married, make medical decisions, and so forth.
Someone who's 18 can purchase a house but can't technically consume alcohol in it. What?
I once looked to see if there'd ever been caselaw involving one minor in possession of alcohol on property they own (without other minors present or any other law violations). I couldn't find anything.
It's generally perfectly legal for dad to let his 16-year-old have a beer at home with the family. Once he's 18, dad isn't his guardian anymore. So shouldn't he be able to let himself have a beer, if it's OK with the owner of the property? Especially if the owner of the property is himself so there's no other liability involved?
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
The Stop & Shop in Malden..
The Stop & Shop in Malden is one of the stores that already has the full liquor license. When an underage cashier works, they have little (homemade and unattractive) signs that they hang on the aisle number that say something about a supervisor being required to ring up any alcohol purchases.
I've been there at times when every open aisle had that sign up.
This Isn't New
The Shaws we frequent used to sell beer and wine. I actually don't know why they stopped,as I don't buy much beer or wine, but I assume it was a legislative thing.
Anyway, the deal was that you put everything else on the belt first. The last item on the belt is your beer, and when it's the only item left the cashier calls over the head cashier who rings it up and puts it in the bag for you. Holds you up MAYBE 30 seconds . Nobody loses a job. As others have said, this is not completely foreign in the United States. Massachusetts and their friendly scare tactics. Sheesh.
===========================
From the brains behind http://www.bigdumptruck.com
Shaw's
This is just a guess, but if Shaw's had three licenses, and Star had three licenses, they probably had to give three of them up when they merged.
What's his point?
"Question 1 does not "simply allow supermarkets to sell wine". That's a very misleading statement. Question 1 would grant ANY retailer who sells any type of perishable product - which by Massachusetts law requires them to carry a grocer's license - the ability to sell all alcohol that is covered under a retail wine license. This would include White Hens, 7-11s, Christys, you get the picture."
Sounds good to me. Whose side is ths guy arguing for?
What makes us unique?
As someone with lengthy residence in both Washington and Virginia, states where wine and beer sales are permitted in groceries, convenience stores, etc, here are the advantages that I see to question 1:
I also wonder, with tongue in cheek, why we are worried about kids getting wine. I would think that the wine industry with its rapidly aging demographic would welcome any indication that younger customers were interested in its products, rather than beer and vodka.
Finally, I have to ask what makes Massachusetts teenagers different from teenagers in other states where alcohol is available in grocery stores and other outlets. Are teenagers in MA uniquely susceptible to the pressure to drink? Are the stats on teenage alcohol consumption really tightly linked to restricting the type of outlets that can sell wine? I haven't seen those numbers, but I would suggest that whatever it is that makes us unique as a state has more to do with the byzantine state and local liquor laws (only three stores in a chain? liquor available in one town but not in its immediate neighbor?) than any behavior differences on the part of our teenagers.
18 to 20 can handle, but not touch?
From MGL 138, sec 34
I guess they can, but they can't.
Presently in Mass, people
Presently in Mass, people younger than 18 cannot sell or serve alcohol, people 18 and older can.
MAHK MY WORD
It's a slippery slope.
In Summahville alone, the number of liquor licenses will go from 27 to 8,543,987!! Sure, it starts with wine in grocery stores. Next thing you know it'll be legal for gas station attendants to hold kindergarten kids down and pour Jim Beam down their throats with a funnel! It'll be cahnage in the streets!!! GAAAAAHH!
In my town, the closest place to my house where I can buy a bottle of wine right now is a convenience store -- a Tedeschi's. Except on Sundays, when the Puritans make them rope off the aisle before noon and after 6.
Seeing the Packy Industry so concerned about public safety just brings a tear to my eye.
sniff SNIFF
Sunday hours
Maybe your town requires them to close at 6 pm on Sundays, but the state doesn't. My local packie is open until 11, just like any other night.
Right
I've noticed other towns with more leeway w.r.t. the Sunday hours.
"Next thing you know it'll
"Next thing you know it'll be legal for gas station attendants to hold kindergarten kids down and pour Jim Beam down their throats with a funnel!"
I spent the past 16 years in a state with drive-through liquor stores. In Iowa, you can buy alcohol ANYWHERE, including church rummage sales.
Well, maybe not church rummage sales.
If yer kid ain't weaned off milk and onto JD by the time he's two, yer doin' it wrong. ;)
Poor little money-strapped Shaws! You have got to be joking!
Yeah, I'm crying my eyes out for Shaws supermarkets and all of the other over-priced crappy selection shitty produce carrying pathetic excuses for a grocery store! The price of food is outrageous in the city of Boston! If corporate mega-supermarkets actually gave a damn about fair pricing, let's start with the basic staples: the four food groups. What a waste of a ballot question.