Over the next year, Tennessee will be making a big deal (and rightfully so) about our state’s role in putting the 19th Amendment over the top for ratification, finally granting the vote to women in the United States. But prior to all that was the 18th Amendment, which established Prohibition as the law of the land on Oct. 28, 1919. Of course, Tennessee had already been dry for a considerable period before the rest of the country started teetotaling, but the 18th Amendment assured we’d stay that way until it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
I was reminded about this momentous anniversary by an email from Drizly, an e-commerce company that focuses on the alcohol business. It was augmented with one of those lists of bizarre local alcohol-related legislation, some of which are inexplicably still in effect. Y’know, like how in Washington, D.C., Santa Claus may not be used to sell alcohol, and how it's illegal to serve wine in a teacup in Kansas. In Nebraska, it used to be a law that bar owners must simultaneously brew soup if they are selling beer, but they have since repealed that silly idea.
I was intrigued by the law Drizly used as an example of a wacky Tennessee alcohol regulation — that bar owners are not allowed to let patrons make loud or unusual noises. Being the crack journalist that I am (heh) and being imbued with a healthy helping of skepticism when it comes to marketing press releases, I dug a little deeper and discovered that the ordinance mentioned is actually a city of Franklin regulation, and that it is indeed still in effect. Specifically, Section 8-226 Subsection 4 of the Franklin Municipal Code states, “It shall be unlawful for any beer permit holder to allow any loud, unusual or obnoxious noises to emanate from his premises.”
That got me to thinking, if Metro Nashville could adopt this code that seems to work for our neighbors, that would pretty much shut down Kid Rock's Big Ass Honky Tonk & Steakhouse. Just a modest proposal, folks.
