Right now, Oktibbeha County is a “dry county,” meaning no alcohol, but it’s not dry enough. If the people of Starkville and the county are truly concerned about the welfare of the area’s citizens, they’ll push their representatives to ban all drinks in the county, not just the ones with alcohol.
Banning all drinkable liquids from Oktibbeha County could possibly be a salvation for our safety and our morality.
As has often been said, the reason for banning alcoholic drinks in the county is one of safety. The lawmakers of the past decided drinking could lead to vile and reckless behavior, maybe even dancing.
Despite this, there are still possible consequences just from drinking anything at all. Too many times have drivers been distracted and put in harm’s way by picking up their 88-ounce Big Gulp of Vault for a drop of refreshment. Too often, drivers have taken their eyes off the road to fish out that last tasty ice cube from the bottom of their cups.
Just as an example, consider this: It takes two hands to unscrew a plastic pop bottle. While holding the bottle proper with your left hand, the prospective drinker has to use all of his or her strength to crack a plastic seal proven to withstand gale-force winds and atomic explosions.
How do we expect our drivers to keep their hands at 10 and 2 while fighting the caps off of tasty beverages?
We’ve taken the first step in the right direction, keeping demon rum out of our backyards, but now we need to finish the job.
This legislation I’m proposing would take the possession of milk, apple juice, bottled water and any other possibly harmful beverages out of the hands of our friends and families.
This would also prove a great asset to the city of Starkville. As Mississippi State students, we receive much of the benefit of the city’s food and beverage tax, and by funneling all drinkers in the county to the city to buy their water and Kool-Aid inside the city limits, the jump in revenue would be unfathomable and prove a great asset for the students of MSU.
But the benefits do not end here. They could extend to the county’s economy and budget too.
To enforce these new extended dry laws, we would need to hire more sheriff’s deputies, new jobs that could provide career opportunities for graduates facing a grim job market.
Violators found in possession of liquids may face the full brunt of the law, unless they are smart enough to travel inside the city limits to imbibe or go to other counties to enjoy their soda, etc.
The fines incurred by repeat offenders could also help fund the increased rate in crime caused by making drink possession a crime, but this ultimately would create a more peaceful and happy community.
But, of course, there is the ever-present problem of under-age drinking, so often encountered near universities.
The county and MSU would need to work hand-in-hand to prevent students from drinking, and this may incur some costs, such as removing all drink machines, coffee makers and soda fountains, but everyone would doubtlessly agree nothing is too much to ensure safety.
Game day visitors would be restricted to drinking only from maintained water-fountains, and anyone with a cup or bottle would need to be escorted off the campus unless they could prove that cup or bottle was not intended for use in the act of liquid consumption.
This proposal can also be founded in the fact that some counties that have limited their dryness to just alcohol have not sufficiently cut down on traffic accidents.
According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in the past five years, dry counties in Texas had more than three and one-half times the number of alcohol-related traffic fatalities per-capita than ones who allowed alcohol. In the study, that translated to 6.8 alcohol-related deaths per 10,000 in the alcohol-free counties versus 1.9 deaths per 10,000 in wet counties.
By protecting citizens from themselves by banning all beverages, it may be possible to finally make our streets and neighborhoods safe from the evils of soda, juice and water too.
Kyle Wrather is the managing editor at The Reflector. He can be contacted at [email protected].