There goes the weekend: big moonshine bust
State Alcohol Law Enforcement agents busted a Wilkesboro man and seized 929 gallons of moonshine, plus a large amount of sugar and other items. Roger Lee Nance, 1117 Shew Ridge Mission Road, been charged with possession of non-tax paid liquor.
This is one of the biggest seizures of white liquor I’ve seen come out of the mountains in my career,” ALE Director John Ledford said in a press release. “I commend the agents who were able to make this arrest. While tax-paid liquor is regulated and inspected, illegal distilleries are typically made in unhealthy conditions that could possibly cause exposure to lead and other problems.”
Another former North Carolina moonshiner, ex-NASCAR driver Junior Johnson, has since gone legit with his distilled liquor, Midnight Moon. It’ll put hair on your chest.
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Ah, here’s another case of big government’s desire to control and regulate people’s behavior, even though the behavior hurts no one else. The state, of course, becomes a bit more than antsy when citizens think and do for themselves. Unfortunately, Mr. Nance is the victim here. State-regulated liquor stores in North Carolina make me glad to be living outside of the Old North State these days. Since I moved to California ten years ago, North Carolina has become less free.
Tax-feeding lawmakers have been after moonshiners for decades, however, and the people of North Carolina seem to commend the superfluous activity of tax-feeding law agents who have nothing better to do than shut down somebody’s private liquor still, which hurts nothing except the monopoly on the state’s profits. Whatever happened to freedom and private property? North Carolinians, as with many U.S. citizens these days, don’t seem to care.
— Tricia 16 October 2009