I just returned from a vacation in Virginia that included visits to wineries, homes of two historical Presidents and Colonial Williamsburg. It is amazing what can be done when people and governments of different levels work together.

The Commonwealth of Virginia has passed a law that says partially consumed bottles of wine that were opened in a restaurant can be carried home without violation of the open container law.

George Washington was a very successful businessman. He had the largest whiskey distillery in the country. It was run as a major industry with five copper stills. Each year Mount Vernon celebrates the history of wine in Virginia with a wine festival on the grounds.
Check out this page of the Mount Vernon website related to George Washington’s religious connection.
http://www.mountvernon.org/knowledge/index.cfm/fuseaction/view/KnowledgeID/83/
You will see it is believed he was devout and believed in God. He promoted the concept of religious freedom that our neighbors in Fannin County enjoy today. He did not preach to others.

Thomas Jefferson was the author of the Declaration of Independence and the Statute of Virginia for Religious Freedom. He had his own vineyard and made wine and beer for his home. Check out this page from the Monticello website related to “Vines and Wine”.
http://www.monticello.org/jefferson/dayinlife/dining/home.html
You will see that he was considered a wine connoisseur. He advised four other presidents on the best wines for executive dinners. He had separate storage cellars for wine and beer in the basement of Monticello. His wine collection consisted of bottles from six countries across the Atlantic. He also believed wine was good for his health and served it at every evening meal. He lived to the age of 83 which was quite old for the time.

During a visit to Colonial Williamsburg the theme that is repeated often is the role the taverns played in our political history. In particular, the Raleigh Tavern played a major role. Virginia was the first state to declare independence form Great Britain. The details of this were discussed in Raleigh Tavern. While Jefferson was governor of Virginia many political meetings took place there.

These were the founding fathers of our great country. I don’t think they would approve of how “The Church” is abusing the religious freedoms they were granted.

I just registered for this site and would like to make a couple of comments. One is concerning the signs. I am on the Vote Yes committee and we have printed over 400 yard signs that say "vote Yes". I personally have put out 25. 15 of those signs are "missing". Someone actually went onto my property and took the the signs.

Many more have been stolen and or run over by cars. We should have put "Thou Shall Not Steal" on the signs and this maybe would have made them feel guilty.

My next comment is that this thing will not be won or lost because they have more visible signs than we do. There is a large "Silent Majority" out there who are concerned about saying they are for this referendum. These are the people who will help us to win.

I have been talking about this subject to many people and quite frankly I am very disturbed when I hear people say that this is impossible to win. With that attitude it is impossible. The worst thing that could happen is for someone to not go to the polls because they feel there is no chance. Every single vote is going to count.

Union County only lost the vote by 48 votes. They lost by a small margin because there was no one in Union County actively pushing the Yes vote. The same thing happened in the City of Ellijay. They lost by even a smaller margin. Again, no one there was pushing the Yes vote.

We are running ads and have put up a couple of billboards and, most importantly, are running a telephone campaign. A very good sign is that our phone campaign has generated over 900 requests for absentee ballots. We are confident that most of those are "Yes" votes.

The other disturbing thing is that the churches are running a completely illegal campaign. They are telling their members that they can write checks directly to the church, therefore making it a deduction and than the churches are writing the checks to pay for their ads. I have seen copies of some of these checks.

Last time I checked there is a seperation of Church and State in this country and the churches pay no taxes on property or income. This is definitley not a clean fight.

When we put the committee together we decided in the beginning to maintain the high road and to not get involved in any "dirty" politics or religious issues. Our task has been to present the facts and keep it clean.

I know that my church had a meeting to vote on giving $2000.00 to the "Temperance Movement". I fortunately skipped that meeting. politics and religion do not mix. The churches would be better off to spend their time, talents, and funds to help rebuild the empty stocking funds, the soup kitchens, or donating to various shelters around the area. Why are they fighting tooth and nail against something that is for the most part already here. Seems like they have traded compassion for campaigning.

Yep my signs were stolen too. I stopped by the Yes headquarters and picked up some buttons and while shopping at Ingles would hand out to those that I noted had beer and wine in their buggy. I also placed a few on the shelves in the wine and beer section. I figured that is the "LAST" place you are going to find one of the TM's (too bad temperance doesn't start with a "B" - would be more fitting!). It was kind of eye opening though....No one refused and all were excited to have and wear. Only one person didn't take one.... he was resident of Union County purchasing his weekend supply of beer. Thanks for the revenue Union County!!!

I figure the stealing of the "yes" signs is being done by kids of the zealots. They're youth pastor is probably offering a free trip to Six Flags for those that bring in signs. They probably made a youth outing out of stealing them - you know like a "scavenger hunt". Just think of the conversation (almost like hunting season) "How many did you get?" ....followed by a "sign burning" along with their Rock Music CD's, Harry Potter books, and any other satanic paraphernalia they have been convicted of possessing! I don't know.... if I were them I would be in fear of a greater judgment from God for stealing signs... After all they are breaking one of the "10 Commandments"... I'm not breaking any laws of God by enjoying the fruit of the vine!!! Bottoms up!!

How much does it cost for bill board? How much for signs? How much for add campaigns??....How much for bumper stickers? (yes saw one of those this week). Anyone have an idea of how much they have spent? What a waste of money!!!!! As well stated by others.... SOOO much more could be done with that $$....and I can hear the TM's "Well the Yes folk are spending $$ too?" Well we wouldn't have to if you people were true Americans understanding that this country is founded on "FREEDOM"!!

Here's a little nugget to gnaw on: Why is it that an area that is so against the legal public/private consumption of alcohol so eager to block off downtown Blue Ridge to celebrate a pagan holiday?

Where is the outrage of the churches with this? Why is it that I see so, so many good church people walking with their little ghouls and goblins on Halloween and then dress up in their suits and dresses on Sunday and worship at the alter of moral fortitude? Why?

The answer is because we church people are a big bubbling bowlful of hypocrisy. We love to pick and choose our verses; to cut and paste our dogmas in order to bend and twist a whole book into one nice concise slogan in order to send the sheep marching forth to the slaughter. We never read the Bible as a whole. Never look at it as both a religious text and a historical text. It’s all about finding the little jewels that we can use to quell the evils that we believe to be around us.

Why is their no outrage that our monies are being directed to political campaigns thus negating our church's tax exemption status? Why is it that our charitable food pantries sit empty yet thousands of dollars are being spent to try and squash something that is already here. Why can't we actually follow the teachings of Christ and feed the hungry, cloth the naked, and shelter the downtrodden?

Amos and Andy - I don't know... and this is just my personal and humble opinion but I would refuse to give offerings to church if they were using my contributions in this manner.

Has anyone noticed the "always" broken scrolling marquis at Crossover? Every time I see this broken sign I think..."what a waste of money". Someone is going to have an accident trying to read it... first too slow, now to fast, broken lighting in message area... but I do think it very fitting that since they are trying to use the sign to show their opposition to this referendum that it is broken!! Could it be that God is trying to get their attention on this issue? Could it be that God is saying to them (through their broken sign) that their "message" is broken? But I know "these type" they probably blame the fact that it is broken on the "forces of evil".....

And I noticed one of the Billboards for the TM faces Crossover. What's up with that? It's like preaching to the choir! They must be proud of this billboard purchase and want to be able to walk out of the church with their head held high, look at the billboard, with pride "thinking" they are doing Gods work....

Luke: I just joined this forum (although I've been viewing the "blog" for over a year. I tend to agree that there are a lot of people around the county that are remaining silent on this issue but will indeed vote Yes. My Dad used to tell the pollsters when then called to ask what candidate he was voting for that it was none of their da@*ed business and that this country ensured him the right to cast his vote without letting anyone else know who he voted for! I believe that we stand a strong chance of getting it passed. I truly hope so. But, if not, then at least we will really know how our county stands, and in the long run that cannot be a bad thing. This is democracy at it's best in my eyes, and it's good that everyone has such a strong opinion and hopefully will be a good citizen and get out and vote, whether for or against. That's what it's all about. No one wants to be on the losing side, but in this case I do believe the majority will win, whatever that shall be.

Several thoughts I've wanted to interject:

re: The "Vote No" signs: When they first started appearing, one evening my hubby stopped to put down one of the signs that was on public property at the base of a stop sign (he did not steal it, he just pulled it up and laid it down on the ground because he objects to them being put on public property.) He was curious about the strip of duct tape that was on the bottom of the signs. Removing it, he discovered that the signs had a July date on them! I believe that initially that minister from Union County that rallied the troops up in Epworth brought along all their leftover signs from last year and passed them out to jump-start the movement. I don't know how many signs there were initially, but I know there were several dozen in my neck of the woods in Mineral Bluff with pieces of duct tape covering old dates. And, many of those old signs have now disappeared, because they were placed on the right-of-way and the county mowed over them! I find it interesting that many old-time local people will put down the part-timers or "foreigners" and poo-poo their opinions as garbage, but they allowed a minister from another county who doesn't even have the right to vote in Fannin County to come in and get involved in business that ain't his! Anyway, the Vote Yes dollars are being spent more wisely by placing ads in the newspaper and on radio - the signs will just be stolen or destroyed (plus, in my eyes, they are all garbage eyesores).

Re: Why alcohol by the drink referendum in the first place: We (the citizens of Fannin) essentially ran Doc Vollrath out of town this past election because we were all sick and tired of his political crap. Randy Collins also did not make it back as a Post Commissioner. It was high time for a change. I know for a fact that had Lane Bishop been elected as one of our Post Commissioners, we would not be having this referendum at all. Tommy Ledford's motion would have been seconded by Lane, and then the vote would have shaken down to 2 against 1 (assuming Chairman Bruce would have voted no). My hubby and I attended the Vote Yes fundraising dinner at Toccoa Riverside Restaurant and sat at the table and had dinner that evening with Lane. While he is a very devoutely religious man, he knows that this referendum needs to pass. It was interesting to hear him say that we are wasting our time trying to fight the religious beliefs of the Vote No group. What these people believe they believe with all their hearts, and whether their belief is totally misconstrued has nothing to do with it. The only way he said we will win this is by appealing to the pocketbooks of citizens. Stick with the hard facts and statistics regarding the money, and what this county is losing and stands to gain. Challenging a person's religious beliefs will only make them angrier. So true.

So, I brought away from that fundraising dinner my list of 10 people to contact to talk up support for the referendum. I also brought home a stack of absentee ballot requests and have made sure that my neighbors that work out of town have them. I'm making my calls, and thus far everyone I've spoken with is telling me they plan to vote yes also. (I intend to call them again next week.) I then ask them to call their friends and neighbors and ask them to vote yes. Just spread the word. That's what we all need to be doing if we hope to win this. GET ON YOUR PHONE and make a few calls to your friends (maybe someone you haven't touched base with in a while) and remind them to get out and vote, and hopefully support the referendum. Ask your friends to make calls to their friends. GET THE WORD OUT - next week is prime week for those phone call reminders! This will probably do more to spread the word than any paid advertising.

That really surprises me. Some churches have obviously caught a clue on this and taken down their Vote No billboards. Too late, I hear the IRS has already been contacted. Anyone concerned should obtain proof and contact the Vote Yes! committee, the IRS, or the ACLU. Just don't turn in these guys:

I believe a lot of our local churches believe this:

I can only assume from the flyer that I recieved in the mail yesterday that I am to "VOTE NO" against olives. I am just a little bit curious as to whether that applies to just whole olives or to olive oil as well? I will be totally appalled that in this day and time people in the South are still prejudice against black olives!