Oh, horse hockey! This was the political imposition of the will of busybody, religious bigots - pure and simple!

Get yourself a hard copy of today's T&G. In an act of flagrant political cowardice, St. Marys city council was cowed by fundamentalists religious bigots into imposing their will upon the community at large and depriving both a landlord and an entrepreneur of their rights to pursue legitimate, legal businesses. It seems that a man wanted to open a package shop in "The Camden Center there on Spur 40, across from the post office. In seems the folks in the pentecostal church across the street did not want it there (or anywhere in the known universe for that matter) because of there puritanical abhorrence of distilled spirits, whether consumed in one's private residence, or anywhere in the known universe, whether in moderation or to excess. Constitutionally guaranteed liberties be damned! Needless to say, they could not come straight out and say that they were going to take advantage of the political cowardice of some of our council members and mayor to impose their religious beliefs upon the rest of us and deprive the landlord of his property rights and the would-be package owner of his rights as well. Oh no - these paragons of virtue simply lied their holier-than-thou asses off by claiming to have concerns about increased crime in the neighborhood, "the children" having to endure the horrifying and potentially eternally damning SIGHT of the exterior of a package shop, etc. I may consume 4 beers a year - depending on how many times I go to a good Mexican restaurant. I consume about 3 to 4 tablespoons of good bourbon a year with my annual quart of holiday eggnog. A boozer I'm not - but if I were that's none of the church ladie's business. Alcohol is legal. The sale of alcohol is legal, so long as the applicant for a license complies with all state and local laws, which apparently this applicant DID. Hopefully, he will sue and win. And yes, I can't stand to be anywhere near a drunk and I'm concerned about drunk drivers. I'm not too crazy about a proliferation of bars and package shops. However, I'm more concerned with the protection of people's constitutional rights. I'll answer before you ask: Had this been before the county commission (i.e, had the location been out in the county), and the guy had all of his legal ducks in a row, and I had been on the commission, I would have voted for the license. I respect all citizen's rights to have whatever religious beliefs they want, so long as the exercise thereof does not deprive any other citizen of the exercise of any constitutionally guaranteed civil liberty.