Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 07:04:33 -0700 (PDT)
From: tim keim
Subject: Eat, Drink and Raise…?
EAT, DRINK AND RAISE…?
April 25, 2009
by Tim Keim
Previously published in the Chapel Hill Herald Sun
Though it’s true that I’ve lent my name and support to the referendum for mixed beverages in Chatham County, that doesn’t mean I don’t have reservations about such a momentous change to our local social fabric. There are historical perspectives that have long been ignored where strong intoxicants are concerned. There are questions about how this policy will change the nature of commercial growth in Chatham. The concern for public safety is always justified, as well as how we teach our young people to regard powerful, mind altering drugs.
Alcohol and other intoxicants have been used in ritual and religious settings practically since their discovery. Perhaps it was a way for our ancestors to honor the obvious power of intoxicants to so radically alter consciousness. Tobacco is good example. The ritual use of tobacco persists among Native Americans to this day. When the bonds of ritual attitudes loosened to permit common, regular consumption, and then commodification, alcohol and tobacco abuse became a twin scourge to the health of human beings.
Humans, being the adolescent species we are, are still struggling with our relationship to consciousness altering substances. We all know people who drink and smoke too much and those who’ve wreaked havoc in their lives because of irresponsible drug use.
As far as commercial growth is concerned, more than a few Chatham citizens, myself included, worry that the county will be overrun by corporate franchise restaurants. The whole point of permitting mixed beverage sales is to boost the local economy. If more corporate franchises set up shop in Chatham, they suck money out of the local economy and send it to corporate headquarters. They are leeches to the local lifeblood of prosperity, not to mention their architecturally hideous facades. Corporate chains seldom buy local vegetables, meat or milk. They act as colonial mercantilists robbing the communities where they do business.
Chatham County should erect whatever barriers are available to keep the corporate food juggernaut from vacuuming up local dollars that should be circulating through the pockets of neighborhood business people. A good example of effective commercial policies can be seen in Door County, Wisconsin. I vacationed there some years ago, and saw a thriving local economy utterly devoid of franchises. Not only was the local economy really local, but the character and social coherence of such communities is stronger when citizens support each other’s commercial endeavors.
Public safety is a concern all of us share. Religious groups specifically sound this warning as a common response to mixed beverage sales. I’ll not diminish the importance of such a caveat. Their predecessor, the temperance movement, wasn’t all wrong. If local establishments are allowed the privilege to serve mixed beverages, then would it be too much to ask of them to monitor the drinking of their customers and call for transportation or law enforcement help when the situation demands it? After all, freedoms demand responsible expression. Perhaps local restaurateurs could offer training to their employees to help them recognize when customers have had too much, and act accordingly.
This also presents families, churches, and Chatham County Schools with an opportunity to take a fresh look at how we teach our young people to relate to intoxicants. The D.A.R.E. Program, though well meaning, has been dropped in big cities across the nation because it’s proven ineffective. Honest, factual, unprejudiced information taught by supportive, caring adults will empower children to make responsible decisions regarding the use of all powerful substances. Replacing indefensible taboos with useful knowledge will prove a superior strategy to engender healthy attitudes in our children when it comes to the choices they will make.
We all want Chatham to develop in health, prosperity, and social cohesion. Permitting mixed beverage sales can be a part of that development. It’s time for us as humans to become mature beings who relate to our world and each other in ways that foster civic respect, moderation, tolerance, wisdom and kindness. Let us make a solemn but celebratory toast to a salubrious future of robust local economic vigor, social responsibility and the pursuit of happiness for all of Chatham County.