I liken it to baby steps. Baby steps out of the idiocy of 1800's liquor laws that some Okies just can't let go without whining.
SQ 792 Regardless of the other things that affect more/less DUI's in Oklahoma. If you keep the law (vote No) as we have now I believe number of DUI's/accidents/deaths are very likely not to increase. If you change the law (vote yes) I believe its guaranteed to increase. Just my 2 cents
I wouldn't be so sure that it'd have as big an impact as you think.
I lived in Lubbock Texas for a few years and you couldn't buy any packaged alcohol within the city limits, yet it had a high rate of DUI accidents. The reason? People drank up their supplies and would have to drive pretty far to get more. They changed the law to allow for package sales and the rates went down (i believe). You could suddenly walk to your local gas station to buy more beer instead of having to get on the highway to drive there.
Fast forward, I moved to Oxford MS, a town where you couldn't buy cold beer. The argument was that people would want to drink them immediately and there'd be blood in the streets. Well, it took replacing the majority of the city board, but the issue came up for a vote. The mayor (who was against it) made the mistake of asking the police chief publicly to tell everyone what he found out about the increase in MIP, DUI, etc from places that had recently allowed cold beer sales. The chief, much to the mayor's surprise, let him know that none (0) of the 20-something towns he called had seen any increase of note. The measure passed and the city suddenly found itself with more tax income (they also changed the law to allow restaurants to sell booze on sundays, something that had never been legal before unless there was a home football game on saturday)
easier access does not always equate to more problems
Im not saying for sure that its a huge impact. But has to be more problems for especially younger drivers. I believe a lot of how Texas deals with DUI's had an affect of less DUI's.
Yet there are many states around OK with far simpler access to alcohol that don't have 'more problems' per se. Again, Missouri allows you to purchase hard liquor at gas stations. Not to mention allowing open containers for people over 21 who aren't the driver (or that is how it was when I was in college).
I can't say it wont have an impact. It could have a huge impact for all i know. But there have been so many states that have changed their laws without issue and so many more that have always allowed for simpler access.
Alcohol laws in the south are some of the screwiest forms of government protectionism and nanny-statism
790: Why are we wasting more of our government's money and time on this? Is the goal to keep Oklahoma 48th in everything?
I completely agree. And I don't drink a 6 pack in 6 months.
On the teacher raise thing, I've heard Boren make his case for it, then I saw how much higher ed and common ed would get out of that $615 million dollars. How many times do we have to have some new scheme from gambling to the lottery to "fix education" in this state and then we turn on the news and these teachers and kids STILL don't have any money??? This will cost citizens an average of over $400 a year in additional taxes so now that raise is cut down to only $4600 which barely puts us in the competitive salary range for the region. I think our teachers need to be treated right but this is just a sloppy fix with a bunch of unintended consequences cuz the legislature would rather kick the can down the road on hard decisions.
Couldn't agree more. We were the last state to end prohibition in 1959 if that tells you anything.
PLUS, don't forget it is nearly a 20% tax increase! Even though they like to advertise it as a 1 percent increase
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