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A dry county is a county in the United States whose government forbids the sale of alcoholic beverages. There are hundreds of dry counties across the United States, although they are most common in the South and Mid-West. Smaller jurisdictions exist which prohibit the sale of alcoholic beverages as well, such as dry towns.
Overview
Of Texas' 254 counties, 46 are completely dry and 169 are partially dry or "moist". The patchwork of laws can be confusing, even to residents. In some counties, only 4% beer is legal. In others, beverages that are 14% or less alcohol are legal. In some "dry" areas, you can get a mixed drink by paying to join a "private club," and in some "wet" areas you still need a club membership to get liquor-by-the-drink, reports the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The newspaper demonstrates how variable the alcohol laws can be, even within small geographic areas. "Move from Fort Worth to Arlington and you’ll be surprised that you can buy beer but not wine at the grocery store. Move to Grand Prairie and you can’t even find beer there, but you can buy alcoholic drinks at restaurants in both towns. Then move to Burleson, which has alcohol sales in the Tarrant County portion of the city but not in the Johnson County side of town."
Almost one-half of Mississippi's counties are dry. Its alcohol laws are similarly complex. It is also illegal to transport unopened containers of alcohol across any dry county in the state. In Florida, five out of 67 counties are dry, all of which are located in the north, an area that has cultural ties to the Deep South.
In addition, many counties and municipalities in the United States are dry on Sunday or part of Sunday, which is the Lord's day for most Christians. This is a result of Colonial-era Blue laws, which were designed to promote Christian morality.
Example: Dry counties of Kentucky
Of the 120 counties of Kentucky, 55 are completely dry and 30 are wet *. The remaining 35 counties fall somewhere in between.
- Certain counties allow the sale of alcoholic beverages by the drink on golf courses located in dry counties.
- Some wineries are allowed to operate within dry counties.
- 16 cities within dry counties have voted to allow restaurants above a specified size to serve drinks. This is also the case for all of Oldham County.
- 16 other cities are wet cities located in dry counties.
A study of about 39,000 alcohol-related traffic accidents in Kentucky found that residents of dry counties are more likely to be involved in such crashes, possibly because they have to drive farther from their homes to consume alcohol, thus increasing impaired driving exposure. The study concludes that county-level prohibition is not necessarily effective in improving highway safety.
Other states
An example of a "dry city" in the northeastern United States is Ocean City, New Jersey. There is, however, a large liquor store on the mainland side of the bridge leading onto the barrier island on which Ocean City rests. Some of the smaller towns in Southern New Jersey are also dry, such as Mullica Hill, New Jersey. In December 2005, Bridgewater, Connecticut became the last remaining "dry town" in that state. The city of Westerville, Ohio was dry for well over a century. Once the home of the Anti-Saloon League and called the "dry capital of the world", the first legal drink in recent times was served in Westerville in 2006. The city of Monmouth, Oregon was the last dry municipality in the western United States outside of Alaska until it removed its prohibitions on 10 January 2003. There are 14 completely dry towns in Massachusetts, including several in greater Boston. Many other places in Massachusetts are partially dry. For example, in the Boston suburb of Arlington, bars and liquor stores are not allowed, but a maximum of five restaurants are allowed to serve alcohol with meals.
A 2004 survey by the National Alcoholic Beverage Control Association found over 500 municipalities in the United States to be dry, including 83 in Alaska.
Transport
Liquor law may also apply to land-based passenger vehicles such as buses and trains while they are in the territory of the respective states. It had been considered because of the 21st Amendment, which repealed national prohibition and made alcohol prohibition a state matter rather than a federal one, that states had the power to regulate interstate commerce with respect to alcohol traveling to, from or through their state. While the 21st Amendment does give states the power to ban alcohol, that power is not absolute. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Granholm v. Heald (544 U.S. 460 (2005)) that states do not have the power to regulate interstate shipments of alcholic beverages, and therefore it may be likely that a city, county or state ordinance banning possession of alcoholic beverages by passengers of vehicles operating in interstate commerce (such as trains and interstate bus lines), where those passengers are simply passing through that state, would be unconstitutional.
Sources
Maps
"Dry county"