Too good to pass up

[AndyK]

Quoted without comment:

A group of people from D.C. wasn't allowed to buy alcohol Saturday in Concord, New Hampshire because their identifications showed they were from the Nation's Capital.

The Concord Monitor reports a state law says individuals of age can buy alcohol if they have a photo identification from one of the 50 states or Canada, a passport or a military card. Washington, D.C., however, isn't mentioned.

Concord Food Co-op customer service manager Joshua Bourassa tells the Concord Monitor, "We get three to four people each year who we can't sell to because they don't have proper identification."

Bourassa says he usually apologizes and tells them they can probably go to a different store and buy it.

Travis Mitchell, one person in the group of friends denied alcohol, says he doesn't fault the cashier for denying the purchase, but finds it strange.

The Concord Monitor reports the statute was enacted in 1990 and last reviewed in 1998.

The linked article in the Monitor is worth a read -- especially the comments.

[Famspear]

Quoted without comment:

A group of people from D.C. wasn't allowed to buy alcohol Saturday in Concord, New Hampshire because their identifications showed they were from the Nation's Capital.

The Concord Monitor reports a state law says individuals of age can buy alcohol if they have a photo identification from one of the 50 states or Canada, a passport or a military card. Washington, D.C., however, isn't mentioned.

Concord Food Co-op customer service manager Joshua Bourassa tells the Concord Monitor, "We get three to four people each year who we can't sell to because they don't have proper identification."

Bourassa says he usually apologizes and tells them they can probably go to a different store and buy it.

Travis Mitchell, one person in the group of friends denied alcohol, says he doesn't fault the cashier for denying the purchase, but finds it strange.

The Concord Monitor reports the statute was enacted in 1990 and last reviewed in 1998.

The linked article in the Monitor is worth a read -- especially the comments.

I haven't visited the web page, so I haven't read the comments. However, Mr. Joshua Bourassa appears to be misinformed about New Hampshire law.

New Hampshire Statutes, Title XIII, Chapter 179, section 179:8 provides:

179:8 Statement From Purchaser as to Age. –

I. For the purposes of RSA 179:7, any person making the sale of beverages or liquor to any person whose age is in question shall require the purchaser to furnish any of the following documentation that such person is 21 years of age or over:

(a) A motor vehicle driver's license issued by the state of New Hampshire, or a valid driver's license issued by another state, or province of Canada, which bears the date of birth, name, address and picture of the licensee.

(b) An identification card issued by the director of motor vehicles under the provisions of RSA 260:21, or any picture identification card issued by another state which bears the date of birth, name and address of the individual.

(c) An armed services identification card.

(d) A valid passport from a country with whom the United States maintains diplomatic relations.

II. Photographic identification presented under this section shall be consistent with the appearance of the person, and shall not be expired and shall be correct and free of alteration, erasure, blemish, or other impairment.

But, section 21:4 of the New Hampshire Statutes provides:

21:4 State; United States. – The word "state,'' when applied to different parts of the United States, may extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States'' shall include said district and territories.

[Jeffrey]

21:4 State; United States. – The word "state,'' when applied to different parts of the United States, may extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States'' shall include said district and territories.

So what you're saying is technically he should ONLY be selling beer to people from DC, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Puerto Rico.

[Famspear]

21:4 State; United States. – The word "state,'' when applied to different parts of the United States, may extend to and include the District of Columbia and the several territories, so called; and the words "United States'' shall include said district and territories.

So what you're saying is technically he should ONLY be selling beer to people from DC, the Virgin Islands, American Samoa and Puerto Rico.

Only if he files his federal income tax returns using Blowhard Hendrickson's Cracking the Code scam!

[Famspear]

Seriously though, it looks like the Concord Monitor, the New Hampshire alcohol regulatory authority and the store operator are all asleep at the switch.

It took me only about five minutes to debunk this nonsense.

[notorial dissent]

Gee, nice to know that literacy is alive and well in the Great State of New Hampshire.

[webhick]

And they missed it again: http://www.concordmonitor.com/home/1276 ... -a-license

In a memo released yesterday, the New Hampshire Liquor Commission said that, though the state’s liquor laws do not explicitly include those documents as acceptable forms of identification, it “does not believe the legislative intent of the statute was to omit and thereby exclude” them.

“Therefore, the Division of Enforcement and Licensing’s position is that Washington D.C.’s driver’s licenses and non-driver identification cards are acceptable for the purchase of alcoholic beverages,” wrote enforcement Director James Wilson.

This is really embarrassing.

[notorial dissent]

Almost on par with the TSA agent who decided that Washington DC was a foreign country.

[Duke2Earl]

I was born and brought up in New Hampshire. And yes, something in the air or water or perhaps the weather makes it "different" up there. It is what I refer to as a "baseball season" state...only fit for habitation during the baseball season. But it does have no sales or income tax and really cheap booze (NH Antifreeze)...so "Live Free or Die" everyone.

[Famspear]

I just sent this Email to the Concord Monitor reporter:

Date: Wednesday, July 16, 2014

From: Larry Williams
lawfulman@gmail.com

To: Mr. Jeremy Blackman
jblackman@cmonitor.com

Dear Mr. Blackman:

People have been reading the stories about the purchase of alcoholic beverages and the befuddlement of state officials, retailers and others about the meaning of the word "state" with respect to the District of Columbia.

Did the head of your liquor commission up there not think to simply check the New Hampshire statutes? Under New Hampshire law, the word "state" when used in a statute includes the District of Columbia. See New Hampshire Statutes, section 21:4.

All states have laws like this. They're called "rules of statutory construction." There is no legal need, in each and every section of each and every New Hampshire statute, to spell out that the term "state" includes the District of Columbia and the territories, any more than there would be a need in each section to spell out that the use of masculine words generally includes the feminine, etc., etc. Rules of statutory construction are standard fare.

Why have so many people up in New Hampshire been agonizing over something so fundamental -- something that could have been cleared up by calling almost any competent lawyer?

Yours,

Larry

[The Observer]

Why have so many people up in New Hampshire been agonizing over something so fundamental -- something that could have been cleared up by calling almost any competent lawyer?

But why call a lawyer when you can determine the law for yourself? Why fork over your hard-earned money to some statute-grubbing attorney when you can read it for yourself and interpret it to mean what you want it to mean? Why can't you be the master of your fate and damn the consequences?

Seriously, this would be comedically and justifiably ironic if the customer turned out to be a TP who didn't get his booze because someone else decided to interpret the law the way they saw it.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Almost on par with the TSA agent who decided that Washington DC was a foreign country.

It's not?

[Famspear]

Almost on par with the TSA agent who decided that Washington DC was a foreign country.

It's not?

DC is like Antarctica... it's not a state and it's not a foreign country either.

It's just a.....

...........it's just ........

...................it's...........

.........it's another planet......

..yeah, that's the ticket......

...oh, my head hurts!

[notorial dissent]

Reminds me of a friend's stories of traveling as a college student who would be asked for her passport when she told someone she was from New Mexico.

[Jeffrey]

Get the same thing anytime someone from the States visits us down here in Puerto Rico.

"OMG I didn't know I didn't need a passport"
"OMG I went a week without email because I thought my phone wouldn't work here"

Don't even get started on taxes or online shopping.