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The North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission revoked an Eden night club's permit to sell alcohol after three people were shot leaving the club last week, according to the state Department of Crime Control and Public Safety. Authorities have charged two people in connection with the shootings, which included one fatality. Timothy Ronnel Seay, of Martinsville, was killed and two other Virginia men were injured during the shooting near the Icehouse Club and Lounge during the early morning of Oct. 7. Detectives arrested Shavon Lamont Reid, 21, of Martinsville, at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday after he turned himself in at the...

ALE agents seize 929 gallons of moonshine Wilkesboro, N.C. — State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents seized 929 gallons of moonshine Wednesday and arrested a Wilkesboro man, authorities said Friday. Roger Lee Nance, of 1117 Shew Ridge Mission Road, was charged with possession of non-tax paid liquor, possession of non-tax-paid liquor for the purpose of selling, and possession of equipment and ingredients intended for the use in the manufacture of an alcoholic beverage. “This is one of the biggest seizures of white liquor I’ve seen come out of the mountains in my career,” ALE Director John Ledford said in statement. The...

Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. served up the most broad-based changes to Utah's alcohol policy in four decades Monday, signing legislation doing away with the state's one-of-a-kind private clubs law and changing the way restaurants can serve drinks. Since 1969, patrons at Utah's bars have been required to be members of a so-called "private club," a construct designed with the strong involvement and backing of the LDS Church and aimed at restricting the flow of liquor. "We made a little bit of history today," Huntsman said after signing the bill in The New Yorker, an upscale bar in downtown Salt Lake...

It’s hard to walk down the aisle of a liquor store without running across a bottle bearing someone’s name. We put them in our cocktails, but how well do we know them? Here’s some biographical detail on the men behind your favorite tipples. 1. Captain Morgan The Captain wasn’t always just the choice of sorority girls looking to blend spiced rum with Diet Coke; in the 17th century he was a feared privateer. Not only did the Welsh pirate marry his own cousin, he ran risky missions for the governor of Jamaica, including capturing some Spanish prisoners in Cuba and...

Opposition to District legislation allowing bars and restaurants to stay open 24 hours during inauguration week has emerged from local churches to the halls of Congress, but the D.C. Council seems reluctant to budge. The legislation “is not unprecedented,” said a Wednesday statement from council Chairman Vincent Gray replying to a request to reverse the law from Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Robert F. Bennett, R-Utah. Gray cited New Year’s Eve as “a night of large crowds and celebrations” when the city allows liquor to be sold until 4 a.m., but said he “[looks] forward to further dialogue with...

To Wild Turkey master distiller Jimmy Russell, the piercing sounds of a warehouse rising in the Kentucky countryside are the sounds of prosperity. "As long as you see work going on — and the construction, and increasing your size — you know your business is doing well," said Russell, who started working for the bourbon maker in 1954. Distillers are expanding their bourbon production and storage and dispatching sales teams around the world, bullish for a traditionally Southern beverage gaining popularity worldwide. Surging exports, the weak U.S. dollar and rising popularity among younger Americans are driving the boom. "It's an...

PROGRESO — Winter Texans crossing the international bridge Friday returning from Nuevo Progreso clutched plastic bags filled with souvenirs, liquor, cigarettes and prescription medicine. Most were bothered more by the chilly blast of north wind than the impending requirement that starting Jan. 31 they must have a passport or birth certificate and photo ID card to return from Mexico. Ron and Alice Weeks, who live in central Missouri, already have their passports. “We got them last year at home,” Alice Weeks said. “It was difficult.” The start of the passport requirement “was supposed to take place last year,” she said....

Sweden is set to begin its sale of state-owned wine and spirits manufacturer, Vin & Sprit. The government said it would contact all interested parties over the course of the day before beginning an auction process, Minister for Financial Markets Mats Odell announced at a press conference on Tuesday morning. "We are now coming to the end of the preparatory phase and the beginning of a more active phase. We expect a transaction to be made public next year," sad Odell. The minister said that the government had decided to conduct the sale in the form of a bidding process...

DENVER — It wasn't a reckless obsession with liquor, drugs and gunplay that made the late Hunter S. Thompson the undisputed king of Gonzo journalism, his wife says. Instead, it was old-fashioned principles such as working hard and telling the truth, enlivened by the glee Thompson took from learning and from being right.< >After his death, Anita Thompson said, she got stacks of e-mails and letters from young people who thought they could duplicate his success by mimicking his infamous consumption. "They wrote me these letters about drinking bottles of Wild Turkey and doing grams of cocaine," said Thompson, a...

Over the strong objection of federal safety officials, a quiet movement to lower the legal drinking age to 18 is taking root as advocates argue that teenagers who are allowed to vote and fight for their country should also be able to enjoy a beer or two. The proposal, which is the subject of a national petition drive by the National Youth Rights Association, has been studied in a handful of states in recent years, including Florida, Wisconsin, Vermont and Missouri, where supporters are pushing a ballot initiative. Opponents of the idea point to a reported rise in binge drinking...

CHINA / Odd News Bad habits key to man's longevity (China Daily) Updated: 2007-05-21 14:52 Zhang Shuqing, a centenarian in Pixian, Sichuan, has his own secret for long life - smoking every day and drinking liquor after every meal. Zhang, whose daughter died eight years ago, turned 100 on May 7. He lives with his nephew Zhang Chenggui. Zhang senior said he started smoking and drinking strong liquor when he was in his early 20s. Since then, he has smoked every day and taken a drink with every meal. According to his grandson Xu, Zhang has consumed 15 tons of...

Patrons of Squatters Brew Pub on Saturday night expressed sympathy for a waitress they noticed trying to explain to an incredulous couple from out of state why they could order wine or cocktails with their meal if they sat on the left side of the bar but only beer if they sat on the right side of the bar. Chalk up another "did-I-hear-that-right?" incident to Utah's liquor laws. Manager Nick Moore says because Squatters wanted a traditional brew-pub area as well as a full service bar, it had to get three licenses - a tavern license, a liquor license and...

Question One has gained the lion’s share of attention when it comes to the ballot questions (however misleading some of that attention might have been). Understandable, since Questions Two and Three can’t exactly be boiled down to the “wine=good” vs. “wine=bad” talking points. Nevertheless voters will be asked to weigh in on all three initiatives on the statewide ballot tomorrow, and so we offer a recap of the Herald’s views: Question One would allow more grocery stores to sell wine, subject to approval of local licensing authorities. The dire warnings of opponents - including the powerful liquor lobby and the...

BALLOT QUESTION #1 An Initiative Petition for a Law This proposed law would allow local licensing authorities to issue licenses for food stores to sell wine. The proposed law defines a “food store” as a retail vendor, such as a grocery store, supermarket, shop, club, outlet, or warehouse-type seller, that sells food to consumers to be eaten elsewhere (which must include meat, poultry, dairy products, eggs, fresh fruit and produce, and other specified items), and that may sell other items usually found in grocery stores. Holders of licenses to sell wine at food stores could sell wine either on its...

Cabdriver Muhamed Mursal doesn't wear his Muslim beliefs on his sleeve, but he soon may broadcast them via a light on top of his cab. Mursal and hundreds of other Muslim cabdrivers at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport refuse to take travelers they know are carrying alcohol. No one is searching bags, but a Napa Valley wine box or a see-through bag from the duty-free store can be enough to leave a fare waiting for the next cab. Airport officials estimate that happens at least three times a day. Now, the airport and cab drivers have worked out a proposal that...

'Dry' counties are drying up in Texas Even more are putting the liquor option to voters since easing of law LUFKIN — Sarah Strinden is tired of what she calls the "pain-in-the-neck" drive she must take as a consequence of Texas' patchwork of local liquor laws. From her house it's a 10-mile jaunt to the metal-sided beer barns and package stores in either of two adjoining wet counties. ''We don't buy a lot and store it, so when we're planning a casual drink with friends it's a 40-minute trip," she said. ''It's just inconvenient." Strinden and others in Angelina County...

Two members of the Fort Worth Cats baseball team were arrested this morning after they and dozens of people got into a fight at a St. Paul bar, police reported. About a dozen officers responded to the fight at the Half Time Rec as members of the Cats fought with members of the St. Paul Saints team. The Cats beat the Saints 2-1 Sunday night to win the American Association league championship. After the game, the two teams retired to the Half Time Rec, a popular bar in the 1000 block of Front Street, a short drive from Midway Stadium....

1. If you owe someone money, always pay them back in a bar. Preferably during happy hour. 2. Always toast before doing a shot. 3. Whoever buys the shot gets the first chance to offer a toast. 4. Change your toast at least once a month. 5. Buying someone a drink is five times better than a handshake. 6. Buying a strange woman a drink is still cool. Buying all her drinks is dumb. 7. Never borrow more than one cigarette from the same person in one night. 8. When the bartender is slammed, resist the powerful urge to order...

<p>KENNER, La. (AP) - Three people convicted of hauling away liquor, wine and beer from a grocery store after Hurricane Katrina were sentenced Wednesday to 15 years in prison.</p> <p>The judge said he wanted to send a message that looting would not be tolerated when he gave the maximum sentence to Coralnelle Little, 36, Rhonda McGowen, 42, and Paul C. Pearson, 36, all of Kenner.</p>

It’s no wonder that the American people are frustrated with the Republican Congress. Americans deserve progress, but instead are bombarded with politics driven by fear and division. They deserve action on the challenges we face as a nation - an endless and costly war in Iraq, skyrocketing gas prices and soaring health-care costs. Rather than dealing with real priorities, the Republican leadership is focused on writing discrimination into the Constitution. Just like the circus surrounding the Senate’s effort to intrude into the Terry Schiavo case, today the Senate will begin debate on the Federal Marriage Amendment - a wholly inappropriate...

Rep. Patrick Kennedy (news, bio, voting record) crashed his car near the Capitol early Thursday, and a police official said he appeared intoxicated. Kennedy said he had taken sleep medication and a prescription anti-nausea drug that can cause drowsiness. Kennedy, D-R.I., addressed the issue after a spate of news reports. His initial statement said: "I consumed no alcohol prior to the incident."'Later, however, he issued a longer statement saying the attending physician for Congress had prescribed Phenergan on Tuesday to treat Kennedy's gastroenteritis.Kennedy said he returned to his Capitol Hill home on Wednesday evening after a final series of votes...

A Snohomish County judge has struck down a key package of tax increases on liquor and cigarettes, agreeing that lawmakers illegally bypassed voter-approved spending limits to enact the new fees. The judgment, issued Friday by Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer in Everett, invalidated an omnibus tax plan that Democratic lawmakers used to balance the two-year state budget during the 2005 session. State officials are likely to appeal the ruling, which essentially would require a statewide vote to keep the $263 million, two-year tax package in place. >snip Their lawsuit targeted the 2005 Legislature's overhaul of state taxation and spending limits...

"Fresno police are taking enforcement of drunken driving laws to a new level — which officers expect will bring both success and outrage. Saturday night, the traffic unit unveiled a new operation in which plainclothes police officers stake out bars and target drunk patrons. If the heavy drinkers get behind the wheel, officers in unmarked cars follow them and call in marked police cars to pull them over."

COLUMBIA, S.C. - The year 2005 won't be the only thing toasted away in some South Carolina bars at midnight. A few partygoers also will be able to say goodbye to the minibottles. For 22 years, South Carolina bartenders have had no choice but to pour liquor from the 1.7-ounce bottles most often associated with airplanes and hotel minibars. But a vote in 2004 and a law passed the next legislative session gives bars and restaurants the same choice every other establishment in the country has - to pour liquor out of big bottles. At Icy's Sports Bar by the...

OAKLAND, Calif. — Dressed in bow ties and dark suits, nearly a dozen men carrying metal pipes entered a corner store, shattered refrigerator cases and smashed bottles of liquor, wine and beer, terrifying the clerk but stealing nothing. The just wanted to leave a message: Stop selling alcohol to fellow Muslims. In urban America, friction between poor residents and immigrant storeowners is nothing new. Nor are complaints that inner-city neighborhoods are glutted with markets that sell alcohol and contribute to violent crime, vagrancy and other social ills. But the recent attack at San Pablo Liquor — and an identical vandalism...

OAKLAND, Calif. - Two men were arrested late Tuesday for their role in vandalizing a pair of stores for selling alcohol to blacks, Oakland police said. Deputy Police Chief Howard Jordan said that Donald Cunningham, 73, and Yusef Bey IV, 19, turned themselves in to face charges including robbery, felony vandalism, conspiracy and terrorist threats. Police have obtained warrants charging four other suspects with similar crimes and expect arrests soon. Bey, who has been linked to a black Muslim group that runs the Your Black Muslim Bakery store chain, was taken to North County Jail and was being held on...

OAKLAND -- Clad in dark suits and bow ties, a gang of vandals strolled into two Oakland corner liquor stores late Wednesday night and then unleashed a violent attack, terrorizing the clerks, smashing displays and coolers with iron pipes. The brazen attacks were captured on videotape and thieves seemed not to care that their pictures were being recorded as they looked right into the cameras. Oakland police have begun a search for the gang of 8-12 young men. But for one clerk, those terrifying moments will not soon be forgotten.

The cause of decency -- specifically, finding limits to what the entertainment world will do for the sake of ratings -- needs an advocate wherever it can be found. But it is a bit strange to see it coming from inside CBS, from "60 Minutes." The other day, reporter Lesley Stahl was profiling the France family that operates the massive sports business of NASCAR racing, and she was outraged. Her primary moral objection was any lack of limits to who sponsors the cars. "A NASCAR race is a constant blur of corporate logos, hawking everything from beer to booze, soldiers...

WASHINGTON Using sex to sell liquor—and incorporating images where liquor is being used excessively or in an irresponsible manner—are among the chief complaints in the latest advertising code report issued today by the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S., the industry's trade group. The semi-annual report, which covers January through June 2005, is part of the industry's voluntary efforts to regulate itself. One SKYY Vodka print ad, for example, featured a female model wearing see-through clothing. The advertiser, SKYY Spirits, agreed to revise the ad after receiving a complaint. While the council said it achieves a "100 percent" compliance rate...

Ontario should get out of the booze-selling business by allowing grocery stores to bid for the right to carry beer, wine and spirits, says a report calling for sweeping changes to the monopolistic way alcohol is sold in the province. But recommendations to auction off the Liquor Control Board of Ontario and its licences to sell alcohol - as well as open up competition against The Beer Store locations run by giant breweries - were immediately quashed by Finance Minister Greg Sorbara. "It's our strong view that the public is best served by the continued ownership of the LCBO," Sorbara...

N. Korean Cigarettes and Liquor Receive A Radical Facelift Inter-Korean Design Exchange Association (in S. Korea) suggested new designs for the a N. Korean cigarette package and a liquor bottle. The ones on the left are original N. Korean products, the Red Star Cigarettes and the Azalea Liquor, and the ones on the right are the newly designed package and bottle. They hope the new designs would help boost their sale abroad.

A San Fernando businessman has taken the Comptroller of Customs to court after a liquor shipment was seized three months ago. Sitting in the Port of Spain Fifth Civil Court yesterday, Justice Mira Dean-Armorer granted leave for Tamash Enterprises Ltd to seek judicial review of the Comptroller of Customs and Excise's decision to seize the shipment of hundreds of cases of Absolut Vodka and Johnny Walker Black whisky.

D.C. Council's Schwartz: Ban alcohol along with smoking in bars Tim Lemke Staff Reporter D.C. Councilwoman Carol Schwartz introduced a bill Tuesday that would ban the sale of alcohol in all bars, restaurants and nightclubs. Suddenly, the debate over a proposed smoking ban in D.C. is getting fun. In what appears to be a statement against anti-smoking legislation, the councilwoman, D-at large, introduced "the Worker Occupational Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2005, Part II," a response to a public health bill that would ban smoking in bars and restaurants in the District. "I never thought I could ban drinking...

Erik Fallo, a central smuggler of illegal spirit, was sentenced on Wednesday to 12 years on charges of murder by poisoning after being behind shipments of moonshine lethally tainted with methanol.Fallo, 58, was charged with seven deaths by poisoning and two cases of two of grave personal injury. According to the charges Fallo sold 50,000 liters of smuggled spirit from January 2002 until the summer of 2003.Per Erik Fossum, 76, received a five-year sentence in the trial, charged with one count of murder by poisoning and one count of involuntary manslaughter under especially aggravated circumstances.Fallo had previously admitted guilt to...

ROCKPORT, Mass. - This seaside town that was the site of a "revolt against rum" by hatchet-wielding women in 1856 is ready to pop the cork after nearly 150 years of being alcohol-free.Residents on Tuesday voted to allow the sale of alcohol by restaurants, but to ban liquor stores and bars from opening. Last year, the Legislature approved a home rule petition allowing the measure to be placed on the town ballot. Except for a brief period in the 1930s, the sale of alcohol has been forbidden in Rockport since 1856, when Hannah Jumper and her gang of 200 women...

BUTTE - Gov. Brian Schweitzer hand-delivered a new liquor license to the owner of the landmark M&M Cigar Store on Thursday, and used bolt cutters to snip the chain that has held the saloon's doors shut for nearly two years. "It's great to have it open again," Schweitzer said after throwing back a shot of scotch. "May she never close." The M&M closed its doors in April 2003, ending a 113-year run, after its former owner filed for bankruptcy. The business had been an institution in Uptown Butte for decades, especially as a rallying point during the city's uninhibited St....

Second Thoughts 3-9-05 By: William W. Lawrence Jonathan H. Newman, chairman of the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, told members of the Delaware County Press Club at the group's recent monthly meeting that getting a state liquor store in Media is a priority.Talk about bureaucratic planning! The one on State Street was shuttered on New Year's Eve. He promised to keep on looking until they find a good spot.Meanwhile, many good Medians (Medites?) will make the 20-minute drive to the Tri-State Mall in Delaware to buy their Merlot and Chianti and then smuggle it back into Pennsylvania.Newman does not feel that...

DENVER (AP) - Liquor stores and the beer industry are fighting a plan at the state Capitol to put identification tags on beer kegs, one of several measures aimed at cracking down on underage binge drinking. Under the measure, when customers buy a keg of beer, liquor stores would have to write down their names, addresses and dates of birth from their drivers licenses and put an identification tag on the keg. The idea is that having that information on record would prevent people over 21 from buying kegs for underage drinking parties. And if they do it, law enforcement...

SUMMERSVILLE, W.Va. (AP) -- Tired of tourists' constant questions about where to get hold of some moonshine, vintner Rodney Facemire decided to build his own - legal distillery. "They kept asking where they could buy some illegal moonshine, and I couldn't tell them," Facemire said. "I had no idea!" Despite producing Southern Moon Corn Liquor at his federally licensed distillery in Nicholas County since 2002, Facemire has had trouble getting it into the hands of the very tourists who are so eager to get a taste of the legendary beverage. While Facemire is free to sell his Kirkwood wine from...

Easy access to alcohol unpopularThe populist Progress Party has had surprisingly little public support for their efforts to bring wine and spirits out of the clutches of the state liquor monopoly Vinmonopolet and in to normal shops.Only 16 percent of those quizzed in a survey carried out by TNS Gallup for TV 2 favored the Progress Party suggestion, and just 31 percent favored making just wine more accessible.Despite the ongoing investigation into the possible bribery of several Vinmonopolet managers, Norwegians appear to have great faith in the monopoly as an institution.Only one in five respondents said that they felt the...

All’s fair in love and war, but not in Washington’s liquor monopoly. The state’s Liquor Control Board (LCB) is running into problems again, this time with the nation’s largest membership warehouse chain, Costco. Issaquah-based Costco has filed a lawsuit to do away with Washington’s antiquated law that prohibits the company from purchasing alcoholic beverages from out-of-state distributors. Costco believes the LCB regulations violate the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution and the federal Sherman Antitrust Act. The state’s monopolistic liquor laws also violate a sense of basic market fairness. Currently, Washington does not allow companies to buy liquor from out...

MUMBAI: Civic hospitals in the city continued to witness a steady stream of hooch tragedy victims on Wednesday even as the toll surged to 75. Doctors from Rajawadi and Sion Hospital, where most of the victims have been admitted, said that at least 80 persons were still critical. The Rajawadi Hospital authorities reported a total of 183 patients being admitted, of whom at least 49 succumbed to internal haemorrhage caused by the spurious liquor. At least, ten persons were brought dead, late at night on Tuesday, medical superintendent Dr V B Shukla said. At Sion Hospital, six of the 34...

Coventry, RI: We visited a Brook's Pharmacy on the corner of Rte 3 & Sandy Bottom road today to pick up a few things, and as we were leaving, noticed 3 teenage girls standing outside Christy's Liquor Store. Walking past Christy's to get to our car, I saw that they had a small table in front of them with a sign "Coventry High School" - one had a Coventry High Track jacket on. They were seeking donations. Donations. Underage teenage females standing outside a liquor store soliciting money for their track team? Am I the only one who sees something...

Lithuanian border guards have unearthed a three-kilometer pipeline for smuggling in moonshine liquor from neighboring Belarus, Reuters reported on Friday. The thin plastic pipeline, buried a few centimeter underground, ran under several roads, along a riverbed and ended next to the home of a Lithuanian citizen. There was no news of any arrests, the agency reported. It was the fourth such pipeline discovered in the last two years but by far the longest. Moonshine vodka from Belarus is sold on the black market in Lithuania, undercutting prices of legitimate alcohol that have risen sharply since the Baltic nation joined the...

Supremes evaluate Internet booze shopping By Thomas C Greene Published Wednesday 8th December 2004 23:35 GMT The US Supreme Court heard arguments Tuesday on whether or not consumers should be permitted to shop for wine via the Internet and have it delivered directly to their doors. Hundreds of millions of dollars in state taxes and distributors' commissions are at stake, so the notion is being fought vigorously by states and industry lobbyists.There are two apparently contradictory passages in the US Constitution that the Supremes will have to reconcile. One is the Twenty-First Amendment, which says that:   "The transportation or...

WASHINGTON - When Prohibition was repealed in 1933, state governments were granted an extraordinary power - the authority to ban alcohol within their borders. It is a power that no state, acting alone, had possessed under the US Constitution until passage of the 21st Amendment. Now, more than 70 years later, that authority is at the center of a US Supreme Court battle that could change the face of the liquor industry, opening the door for widespread direct-to-customer sales over the Internet. At issue is the scope of state power to regulate alcohol. Tuesday, the high court takes up three...

REALLY? THE FACTS When ancient Greeks wanted to reassure guests that their wine had not been spiked with poison, they toasted to good health. While that may be less of a worry today, there remain hazards from indulging in too much alcohol - including, of course, hangovers. But one thing people who drink socially probably don't need to worry about is sacrificing brain cells in the process. The research indicates that adults who drink in moderation are not in danger of losing brain cells. The notion that alcohol snuffs out brain cells has been around for years. Many studies have...

Indian whisky brewed by a southern India-based distillery has been launched in Scotland, the home of whisky connoisseurs and the much-celebrated Scotch. The Amrut single-malt whisky, "made from barley grown in the Himalayan foothills and distilled and matured in the temperate climate of Karnataka's highlands," was unveiled on Tuesday at Glasgow. Targeted at the UK's thriving Indian restaurant market, the premium whisky has met the tough European Union regulations, Amrut Distilleries executive director Rakshit Jagdale told PTI in London. "Amrut is the first Indian malt to meet the requirements of the European Union. We are competing against an industry, which...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Back when federal lawmakers legally could be paid for speaking to outside groups, John Kerry collected more than $120,000 in fees from interests as diverse as big oil, tobacco, the liquor lobby and unions, records show. Between 1985 and 1990, Kerry's first five years in the Senate from Massachusetts, he pocketed annual amounts slightly under the limits for speaking fees set by Congress. Unlike many colleagues, he donated a speaking fee to charity only once, according to annual financial disclosure reports reviewed by The Associated Press. One of the companies to pay Kerry $1,000 for a speech...

A series of truces agreed on last month, encompassing Mr Sadr's stronghold in al-Thoura, Baghdad's eastern slum, as well as the Shia holy cities and other towns further south, are still holding. His own home turf in the capital has been more peaceful than it has been for months. Former fighters are now being paid to collect rubbish, plant trees, direct traffic and help the Iraqi police. The new government has promised to pay for a new sewage system so that the slum detritus will no longer flow past Baghdad's grimmest tenements. Outside the city, the clergy behind Mr...