I was hoping to be able to shut this blog down, but a majority of Hartselle’s voters didn’t have the courage to stand up to the preachers and other moral busybodies who hope to equate Hartselle’s “brand” with horses and buggies. To be sure, they were still twisting arms at the polling place, telling voter [...]
Atypical for me, I had a lot of trouble titling this post. Part of me wanted to write “Cognitive Dissonance” in the “Enter title here” space. The other part of me wanted to run with “Let the free market decide” regarding our vote about whether Hartselle will will finally repeal local alcohol prohibition tomorrow. In [...]
As folks make up their minds about how to vote tomorrow about alcohol sales in Hartselle, some people in town keep saying (more-or-less) that the founding fathers gave us representative government so we can prohibit the freedoms of others. One of the thought leaders from the people who wish to prohibit alcohol sales in Hartselle posted the following [...]
One of the more interesting tacticsof Hartselle’s Vote No crowd has been the “wreck simulations” they’ve used during this and their previous campaign. What confuses me is why they would use something which logic dictates would be counter-productive for their cause. To be sure, plenty of people die each year in accidents caused by drunk [...]
“I voted Yes last time and was planning to vote Yes this time,” explained one Hartselle gentleman. “But the folks at church have pretty much talked me into voting No this time.” From the tales I’ve been hearing, strong armed is a better description of the process being used by certain churches in town. I’m [...]
I’ve mentioned that a lot of people in Hartselle feel as though they are being intimidated by the Vote No crowd, especially from certain religious leaders in town. Threats have been made that people may lose their jobs. I was personally told of such a case, but can’t provide more detail because the family in [...]
A Better Way [*originally incorrectly reported as Families for a Safe Hartselle, my bad] sent out a mailer today and this one was just as absurd as the last one [opponents of alcohol sales sent out]. This time, they tried tugging on our heart strings by highlighting a couple of recovering alcoholics who suggest that the convenience of [...]
“Voting to bring public legal sales of alcohol to Hartselle makes you just as guilty and accountable as if you opened your own store and sold it to your neighbors and your neighbor’s children,” begins one letter to the editor in the incredibly-biased-on-the-issue Hartselle Enquirer. Of course, if I owned a restaurant in town I’d [...]
The other day, I mentioned that the leaders of Hartselle’s alcohol prohibition movement are chickening out of debate invitations. While their representative did appear on the cable community channel program (I missed it, but will watch it on DVR as soon as I get a chance), I’m told they won’t be at the upcoming radio [...]
The folks in favor of alcohol prohibition in Hartselle keep talking about how local alcohol sales won’t boost the economy a bit along with describing the moral decay which will fall upon us if we go wet. However, a lot of nearby cities are wet. If going wet doesn’t improve the economy or if it [...]
I was hoping to be able to shut this blog down, but a majority of Hartselle’s voters didn’t have the courage to stand up to the preachers and other moral busybodies who hope to equate Hartselle’s “brand” with horses and buggies. To be sure, they were still twisting arms at the polling place, telling voter [...]
Atypical for me, I had a lot of trouble titling this post. Part of me wanted to write “Cognitive Dissonance” in the “Enter title here” space. The other part of me wanted to run with “Let the free market decide” regarding our vote about whether Hartselle will will finally repeal local alcohol prohibition tomorrow. In [...]
As folks make up their minds about how to vote tomorrow about alcohol sales in Hartselle, some people in town keep saying (more-or-less) that the founding fathers gave us representative government so we can prohibit the freedoms of others. One of the thought leaders from the people who wish to prohibit alcohol sales in Hartselle posted the following [...]
One of the more interesting tacticsof Hartselle’s Vote No crowd has been the “wreck simulations” they’ve used during this and their previous campaign. What confuses me is why they would use something which logic dictates would be counter-productive for their cause. To be sure, plenty of people die each year in accidents caused by drunk [...]
“I voted Yes last time and was planning to vote Yes this time,” explained one Hartselle gentleman. “But the folks at church have pretty much talked me into voting No this time.” From the tales I’ve been hearing, strong armed is a better description of the process being used by certain churches in town. I’m [...]
I’ve mentioned that a lot of people in Hartselle feel as though they are being intimidated by the Vote No crowd, especially from certain religious leaders in town. Threats have been made that people may lose their jobs. I was personally told of such a case, but can’t provide more detail because the family in [...]
A Better Way [*originally incorrectly reported as Families for a Safe Hartselle, my bad] sent out a mailer today and this one was just as absurd as the last one [opponents of alcohol sales sent out]. This time, they tried tugging on our heart strings by highlighting a couple of recovering alcoholics who suggest that the convenience of [...]
“Voting to bring public legal sales of alcohol to Hartselle makes you just as guilty and accountable as if you opened your own store and sold it to your neighbors and your neighbor’s children,” begins one letter to the editor in the incredibly-biased-on-the-issue Hartselle Enquirer. Of course, if I owned a restaurant in town I’d [...]
The other day, I mentioned that the leaders of Hartselle’s alcohol prohibition movement are chickening out of debate invitations. While their representative did appear on the cable community channel program (I missed it, but will watch it on DVR as soon as I get a chance), I’m told they won’t be at the upcoming radio [...]
Here’s another of those proverbial “thousand words” pictures. This photo is courtesy of Jonny Letson. Double-click to enlarge and feel free to leave a suggested title below. Other neat pictures from Hartselle’s wet/dry vote to end alcohol prohibition here.
The folks in favor of alcohol prohibition in Hartselle keep talking about how local alcohol sales won’t boost the economy a bit along with describing the moral decay which will fall upon us if we go wet. However, a lot of nearby cities are wet. If going wet doesn’t improve the economy or if it [...]
If you are like me (and a lot of other folks I’ve talked with), you must be getting pretty tired of the “Praying + Caring” signs around Hartselle. I just came up with a quick design for a bumper sticker I’ll be sporting from now until Election Day. I designed it through Zazzle so anyone [...]
Finally, there’s going to some sort of media debate regarding Hartselle’s upcoming wet/dry vote. To date, the Vote No crowd has chickened out of every debate opportunity offered that I know of, but here’s what Bob Francis of the Hartselle Citizens for Economic Development sent out this morning: I have been invited to represent HCED [...]
As a political consultant, I’ll be the first to attest that the line between political spin and outright lies can be blurry at times. Over the years, I’ve written for candidates from city council level to congressional races to gubernatorial and presidential races. Naturally, every cause or campaign tries to put out the most favorable [...]
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of the “Vote No” folks for this series of signs they’ve been putting out. To be sure, they aren’t quite as good as putting out “progress” signs around closed-down businesses in Hartselle, but if Hartselle goes wet by a slim margin, we’ll have these signs to [...]
If DUIs kill, why do the churches want us to vote dry?: One of the more interesting tacticsof Hartselle's Vote No crowd has been the "wreck simulations" they've used during this and their previous campaign. What confuses me is why they would use something which logic dictates would be counter-productive for th... posted on November 1, 2012 
Bootleggers and Baptists:
The phrase "Bootleggers and Baptists" reminds one of another time-treasured political axiom: Politics makes for strange bedfellows. During the prohibition era, these two groups of people were known to ally in their support of alcohol bans. While the pre... posted on October 10, 2010 
Time to Reopen the Doors at the Hartselle Tavern:
Sorry I've been quite remiss about keeping this site up to date, but I was a bit discouraged after Hartselle passed up on the chance to join the first half of the 20th century when they extended our alcohol prohibition by a vote of 3158-2691 in Novembe... posted on February 28, 2012 
Hartselle's Upcoming Prohibition Vote: The Faces Behind the masks:
"Of all tyrannies a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victim may be the most oppressive," wrote the famous Christian theologian and author C. S. Lewis. "It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybod... posted on October 12, 2010 
Are the Moral Busybodies Infringing on the Lowe’s Trademark Rights?:
As a Hartselle resident, I prefer shopping at Corum's or Lowe's for my home project needs. Living in one of the oldest homes in town, this adds up to a lot of needs, too. My wife has the proverbial list of the incomplete tasks while the callouses on m... posted on October 22, 2010 
Dale Jackson Endorses a Yes Vote in Hartselle: A couple of days ago, I tried to bait WVNN's talk show host Dale Jackson into covering the upcoming Hartselle wet/dry vote on his program. It worked, as Jackson referred to the Vote Yes folks as "the ones who tried to bait me into responding to them."
... posted on September 26, 2012