This would get things interesting - I say bring on the battle - watching people have to deal with something changing would be worth watching if nothing else.

It would seem the businesses legally serving beer in Polk would have a strong case (challenged through the Federal Court system) to continue to sell in a "grandfathered" state in Georgia, especially since alcohol is legal under GA state law - its just the county trying to prevent it. Or, they could petition to turn Copperhill into a special "enterprise zone" or such and go straight to the GA Department of Revenue for a State pouring license and bypass Fannin (similar to the Toccoa River Club) - seems like lots of businesses should be doing this until the local leaders finally get a clue...

Obvioulsy, this issue would ultimately be decided by the US Supreme Court and Congress on something of this magnitude - think of how the Chattanooga metro area would be impacted, and how much tax base They would lose in Tennessee in THAT area. So the stakes are obviously huge.

I am becoming more and more convinced with time that there are just some issues that local governments (cities and counties) should have no say on whatsoever. Alcohol and Firearms are two examples that come to mind. Georgia already has a good firearms preemtion statute on the books, which prevents city (mostly the ones so inclined) politicians from restricting gunowners rights (a good thing) - so any gun laws that apply to one in Blue Ridge are EXACTLY the same in downtown Atlanta. I think that they need to enact similar legislation that says all alcohol related issues (including licensing and related laws) can only be pased on the state level as well. That way we would have a uniform set of laws statewide and prevent some of this silliness. Welcome to the 21st century..

Now back to my Mojito I am enjoying in the lobby of the W Hotel in New York City while catching up on email and surfing the net a bit today... a great scene (even though there are no mountains out the window today!)