Nov. 29, 2007
Alcohol Is The Most Abused Drug Worldwide
Dear Editor,
About the only thing I remember from physics class is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, actions have consequences. We are created as free moral agents with the ability to make choices. But we must remember that our choices have consequences. Anger is a choice and love is a choice and there are consequences of these choices. We do not have to be farmers to understand that we reap what we sow. We also reap more than we sow and we reap later than we sow.
Once, while touring Parchman, we went to one of the office buildings that was staffed with four inmates. Our tour guide said, “Ask them how they got here.” They all had college degrees and families and they were there directly or indirectly as a result of alcohol (the most abused drug worldwide).
As husbands and dads, we have the God given responsibility to be the spiritual leader of our home. We can refuse that responsibility but we cannot refuse the consequences.
Vocations and professions have tools of the trade to carry out their purposes. God also has tools He uses to get our attention, to show us He is real, and to let us know that He loves us. Satan has tools, also, to discourage, deceive, hinder, and destroy us. My observation and experience has been that alcohol is one of Satan’s tools. We would be wise, when we make choices, to remember that where ever there is a tool of Satan, he has a right to be there.
Thank you for letting me share my heart with you.
God loves you and I love you,
/s/Binnie Turnage
16551 Highway 32-W
Water Valley
———————
Legalization Will Not Force Anyone To Consume
Against Their Personal Or Moral Convictions
Letter to the Editor:
As a resident of Water Valley, I have read with great interest the controversy surrounding the legalization of beer in Yalobusha County. The choice is not between prayer or beer, as has been recently suggested in another letter to the editor – I pray, it’s not! The matter concerns the legal possession, purchasing and consumption of beer in our county. The issue at hand is primarily not a moral one, but a legal, civic, and economic right to enjoy a beverage that is legal for more than 97 percent of Americans.
Legalization of beer will not force anyone to buy it or consume it against their personal or moral convictions; it just means that those who wish to buy or drink a beer in Yalobusha County may legally do so. As a civic and cultural issue, beer is as American as apple pie. Did you know that in 1587 (even before the establishment of Jamestown in 1603), the first colonists in Virginia brewed ale using corn? Or, that much of America was built by beer drinking colonists who set up a brewery in New Amsterdam (today Manhattan) as early as 1612? Or, that the most popular morning beverage before we, as a nation, started drinking coffee was — beer?
Aside from the civic and cultural arguments that link beer very closely to our history as Americans, it is clear to me that the economic arguments in favor of beer much outweigh any other considerations. Why should we continue to give our revenue and tax dollars to the neighboring counties? Let’s seize our economic opportunities and exercise our civil rights on December 11th – that’s the American way, isn’t it?
Annette Trefzer
613 Blackmur Dr.
Water Valley
———————
Alcohol Is Drug Of Choice For Young People;
Three-fourths Of High School Seniors Consume
Dear Readers:
Shortly the decision to make beer more readily available for our young people in Yalobusha County is to be placed on the ballot.
When I think of this I am reminded of the question, are we our brother’s keeper? Increasingly we are a people concerned only with what pleases ourselves and our right to have what we want when we want it. At the rate we are going soon everyone will have so many rights that no one will have any freedom.
With the issue facing us I am particularly concerned in protecting our young people and with that in mind, I wanted to do a little research to see if the revenue received would really make us rich or if this is just the second verse of that old song “Gambling gonna make us rich, all our schools it’s gonna fix”. I quote from an e-mail received form a CPA with the State Tax Commission.
“Any city within Yalobusha County would receive 18.5% of the 7% sales tax collected on beer sales. Also, if there is a city within Yalobusha County or if Yalobusha County itself has a special levy on beer sales, all of this money would go to the city or county that has the special levy.”
I saw a 12 pack of 12 ounce Bud Light at $9.29 and if my math is correct that would be $0.65 at 7% sales tax and 18.2% of that $0.65 would be $0.1183. For approximately 12 cents revenue you could get three young people drunk enough to ruin a multitude of lives. Even when the county and cities levy more tax it will not be enough.
On this alcohol issue, I know what I’m talking about. I have driven when I was too drunk to walk and I never remember being concerned about killing anyone, only giggling and laughing because I could not walk straight. Common sense seems to go down the drain when you drink. Parents cannot compete with the big money beer companies spend luring young people in. When drinking and driving gets up close and personal with its ravages, taking a stand is not an option.
Another place I did research was on the Internet, www.niaaa,nih.gov/ and the link www.thecoolspot.gov/facts.asp. These are web sites by the National Institutes of Health and have all the statistics you would ever want to read about the dangers and damage alcohol can do to the young and older alike. Please make yourself aware by going to these websites.
Some statistics: Alcohol is the drug of choice of young people. Each year approximately 5,000 young people under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking; this includes about 1900 deaths from motor vehicle crashes, 1600 as a result of homicides, 300 from suicide, as well as hundreds from other injuries such as falls, burns, and drownings.
According to an annual survey of U.S. youth, three-fourths of 12th graders, more than two-thirds of 10th graders and about two of every five 8th graders have consumed alcohol. Research shows when youth drink they tend to drink intensively. Binge drinking is defined by the NIAAA (National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism) as a pattern of drinking alcohol that brings blood alcohol concentration to 0.08 grams percent or above. For the typical adult, this pattern corresponds to consuming five or more drinks for men, or four or more drinks for women in about two hours. Those who begin drinking in their early teens were at greater risk of developing alcohol dependence at some point in their lives, and they were also at greater risk of developing dependence more quickly and at younger ages. Alcohol Alert No. 63 is entitled “Alcohol’s Damaging Effect on the Brain”.
I could go on and on but I’m running too long. Beer is not a soda pop as the commercials tend to portray it but it is a mind-altering drug that leaves shattered lives as we have seen in too many cases in neighboring counties.
Please go to the polls and vote NO against legalizing beer in Yalobusha County. Please vote against making this dangerous substance more readily available for our precious young people in our beloved county. Please make every effort to go vote. Thank you.
Regards,
/s/Nellie L. Gardiner
CR 212
Water Valley, MS
———————
Don’t Jeopardize Economic Future Over Non-Issue
To the Editor;
I’m a resident of Lafayette County, and I’ve been watching the Yalobusha County “beer wars” with interest. As the owner of a restaurant in Oxford, a town which has its own hang-ups on beer, my only comment is this: no one can guarantee how many new restaurants will move into Water Valley and Yalobusha County if beer is legalized. But you can be quite sure that new restaurants are very unlikely to move in if beer sales continue to be prohibited in the county.
Water Valley in particular, given its proximity to Oxford, is an ideal place to locate a full-service family restaurant now that Oxford is completely saturated with food service operations. Real estate in the Valley is still attractive to owners of small business. Don’t jeopardize your economic future over an issue that is truly a non-issue.
Thanks,
Dan Latham
Owner, L&M’s Kitchen and Salumeria
North Lamar Blvd.