Hide the booze (literally) in Utah

I knew Utah had strict liquor laws but this seems a bit much... http://www.sltrib.com/business/ci_7273587


Liquor control commissioner Bobbie Coray asked her colleagues on Wednesday to consider a rule to cover up bottles of booze displayed at restaurants because some diners may be offended at the sight of alcohol.

A glass partition between bartenders and customers required under current regulations may not be enough, Coray told her fellow liquor control commissioners at their monthly meeting.

Coray, a lone holdout opposing liquor licenses for strip bars, now wants the commission to place more restrictions on glass partitions in restaurants. She called the partitions "a Zion curtain," imposed to satisfy Mormons whose faith eschews alcohol.
...
Glass walls don't obscure the alcohol, said Coray, a nondrinker, turning the "atmosphere in a restaurant to more of a bar." She singled out the Cheesecake Factory, which opens its first Utah outlet at Fashion Place in Murray on Nov. 1, because alcohol bottles are in plain view.
...
For her part, Coray defended Utah's liquor laws, saying she's challenged the public to come up with one "quirky" liquor statute, and so far, no one has.
"Maybe it's just a perception of a problem," said Coray. "People haven't been able to point out any silly laws to me."

 

If you can't handle looking at a bottle, you've got some serious problems.

 

That has to be the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

 

Or, maybe Commissioner Batshit has had them pointed out, but she chooses not to listen

 

Umm, OK. How about the fact that you have to be a member of a bar in order to get a drink at the bar. How about 3.2 beer. How about the fact that you have to order food in a restaurant that serves alcohol in order to get the alcohol. You just can't order a drink.

Fuck Utah.

 

This is stoopid.

And, for what it's worth. The person suggesting this ran for congress as a Democrat.

And I'll be the first to admit Utah's liquor laws are, to say the least, silly in many cases.

 

Six months from now................

 

I know of a Outback Restuarant that is divided down the middle. One side is for drinkers, the other for non-drinkers. To get from the drinking side to the non-drinking side you have to go outside and around the building to that entrance or through the kitchen.

 

2002 Salt Lake Olympics

Olive Garden in suburban SLC (hey, that's fine dining in Utah). While enjoying a frosty adult beverage with dinner I order a second one. Waiter brings it to the table but does not set it down, stands and waits. I ask him to leave the beer on the table and he says he can't. I ask why not. He says patrons can not have more than one drink in front of them at any one time. I give him a funny look and finish off my first beer.

Bar in downtown SLC. I walk up to the bar and order a beer. Bartender pours it and looks at me. I look back. He continues to look at me. I ask him what the problem is. He points to a piece of wood screwed into the bar and tells me I have to stand on the other side of it before he can give me the beer. Can't remember the reason why but I do recall that it made sense (for Utah).

 

Wow, I'm glad I don't live (or go to) Utah. Religious freedom is fine, but this stuff is a bit crazy.
Another reason I won't be voting Romney '08 (not that I would have anyway, as a registered Democrat).

 

You know...
I've had beer from a pitcher, and from German mug
I've had beer from a paper cup and poured it from a jug.
I drink beer hot, I drink beer cold, I drink it whenever I can.
But a beer, is a beer, is a beer, is a beer -- until you need to be told where you can drink it in a bar. That's stupid.

 

Dumb, dumb, dumb, dumb. dumb . . .