Rocky Anderson is ranting about the liquor laws again. This time it's out of concern for the 30,000 visitors expected to come to Salt Lake next June when the Rotary Club convention is held in Salt Lake City. The Salt Lake mayor said the state's "bizarre" liquor laws are inhospitable and embarrassing and will be an insult to our out-of-town friends.
Meanwhile, a hundred-thousand Davis County residents stuck in traffic on I-15 are banging their heads on their steering wheels as they realize that maybe all they needed to do was join a Rotary Club, and Rocky, a severe opponent of expanded road travel into Salt Lake from the north, might have looked out for them, too.
As it is, Rocky has a lot more concern for how people from way out of town will feel about Utah's capital city.
Obviously, he's of the opinion that easier access to alcohol would help.
Just because the Rotarians got diverted here from New Orleans because of a hurricane doesn't mean they shouldn't be able to order one.
I agree with Rocky, by the way, that Utah's liquor laws are bizarre. But, then, I think liquor laws by definition are bizarre. It comes with the territory when you're dealing with a substance that is both legal and illegal.
Legal if you're over 21; illegal if you're under 21.
Legal if you've had one drink and you're driving; illegal if you've had three drinks and you're driving.
Legal if you're not publicly intoxicated; illegal if you are.
And so on.
To keep it all straight requires walking a fine line.
Eighty-six years ago, in 1920, people got so tired of sorting through alcohol laws that they made one big alcohol law called Prohibition. For 14 years, nothing about alcohol was legal in the United States.
Prohibition — also known as the 18th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution — didn't last largely because you can lead a nation away from the drinking trough but you can't make a nation stop drinking.
Ironically, it was Utah that cast the vote that ended Prohibition. When, on Dec. 5, 1933, Utah became the 36th state to ratify the 21st Amendment, the 18th Amendment was officially repealed and it was suddenly legal again to have a drink in the United States. From Bangor to Bakersfield to Biloxi, people were toasting the Beehive State.
Perhaps the Rotarians should be apprised of this.
Perhaps they should also be apprised that the conservative liquor laws that Utah has established and enforced since Dec. 5, 1933, have resulted in:
The lowest per-capita consumption of alcohol in the country (about a fourth of that of neighboring Nevada).
The lowest percentage of alcohol-related motor-vehicle deaths in the country (according to the U.S. Census Bureau).
The lowest mortality rate in the the country (45 deaths per 100,000 population).
It might be harder to drink hard here, but you do have a better chance of leaving alive and uninjured — and if you decide to stay and put down roots, chances are you'll live longer and healthier.
Nothing terribly inhospitable, embarrassing or insulting about that.
Lee Benson's column runs Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Please send e-mail to benson@desnews.com and faxes to 801-237-2527.