Bigger Fish to Fry

Once it had mandated the removal of the 1894 "Confederate" state flag, the Mississippi Legislature realized it had bigger fish to fry. First up, repealing Prohibition. That's right, Prohibition. You know, the manufacture, sale, and distribution of alcoholic beverages. The same Prohibition that ended in the United States of America in 1933. 

Okay, it's not quite as weird as it sounds for Mississippi to be repealing Prohibition almost 90 years after the fact. It's weirder. 

It's instructive to begin with the beginning. Mississippi enacted statewide prohibition of alcohol in 1907. And it was the first state to ratify the Eighteenth Amendment twelve years later. But in truth, the Great Sovereign State of Mississippi has a much longer history with restricting the sale of booze.

Around 1839, there was a (short-lived) state law that banned the sale of alcohol in amounts less than one gallon. Naturally, this didn't sit well with tavern keepers, and the law was repealed after a few months. But the buy-in-bulk approach to restricting sales persists today. For example, Oxford (home to Ole Miss) prohibited sales of less than a six pack of beer and didn't allow sale of cold beer except in bars or restaurants until 2013. Whether this actually reduced or increased beer consumption is debatable in a municipality with an economy driven by college students, but it's the thought that counts.

In 1874, the State inflicted enacted a law that required a person who wanted to sell alcohol to obtain a license from a majority of the area’s registered voters plus a majority of all women over age fourteen. (Remember, women couldn't vote back then, so we might take this as a rare example of enlightenment. But let's not. We'll also not take it as another case of "blame it on women.")

So when the Eighteenth Amendment was passed to the states for ratification in January 1919, Mississippi stepped up to the plate as the lead-off batter. And when the Twenty-First Amendment went to the states for approval in 1933, ending Prohibition, Mississippi (along with seven other states) simply ignored it. Bear in mind, that Mississippi already prohibited alcohol at the state-level, as did other states.

Wet or Dry? This Needs Sandpaper!

Mississippi did not repeal state-level Prohibition until 1966. At that time, the state remained officially "dry," but counties and municipalities were permitted to vote "wet." This led to a strange, patchwork system of totally dry counties, dry counties with wet municipalities, and a "qualified resort status" exception that allowed alcohol sales in otherwise dry areas. A personal favorite is Rankin County, which is wet for beer and light wine but dry for liquor and "real" wine, yet has two municipalities (Flowood and Brandon) that allow liquor sales and seven other "qualified resorts" (which is evidently a euphemism for golf courses, campgrounds, and gated communities) where booze can be sold. Confused?

Well, it's confusing enough that the State Department of Revenue maintains convenient maps showing where a thirsty traveler might find hard liquor, wine, and beer. I used to have a really convenient t-shirt with a similar map. I used it up, and it's long gone now.

If this isn't confusing enough, although the state is officially dry, all liquor and wine must be purchased from a state warehouse. If this sounds bizarre, let's talk about the legendary Black Market Tax.

Taxing the Untaxable Can be Taxing

In 1944, the State levied a 10% tax on the sale of alcoholic beverages, even though the sale of alcoholic beverages was illegal. There was even a special tax collector assigned to collect this Black Market Tax. This strange law was the subject of numerous lawsuits and court cases -- some counties contended that the tax itself nullified the State Prohibition law, and liquor was sold openly on the Gulf Coast, along the Pearl River in Jackson's "Gold Coast" area, and in counties along the Mississippi River. 

Where to Stash the Cash

And older relative once told me about seeing a motorcade of highway patrol cars traveling south on Highway 49 every Monday morning en route to the Coast to collect the weekend tax receipts. The tax was paid in cash, of course, and secured in a vault on the second floor of the "New" State Capitol building in Jackson.

(You really should read that last link. The "New" Capitol building sits on the former site of the state penitentiary. The University of Mississippi Medical Center, the med school, is located on the original site of the state insane asylum. Somehow this all makes perfect sense.)

End note: I started this rant a bit over a month ago. In the interim, Mississippi experienced the "second wave" of COVID-19 infections and deaths. As of August 8, there have been 67,649 confirmed or probable cases of coronavirus and 1,912 deaths. Those who argue that a "probable" case wasn't tested and could be any number of diseases need to look at this page. Currently, Mississippi ranks second nationally for the number of cases per 100,000 population. And yes, some cynics are saying, "well, we ain't 50th on that list!"

There are deep-seated, systemic reasons for this. One of them is poverty. One of them is lack of education. And one of them is weak political leadership. But at the end of the day, the biggest reason is knuckleheadedness, the whole "my ignorance is better than your yankee liberal attitude" attitude. I'm not going to write another missive to explain all this. It breaks my heart.

I need to make some cornbread, I think.