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Sometimes on Sunday, when it's raining or an important game is on the TV, I head over to the hunting and fishing club to have a beer, eat a sausage sandwich and hang out. It's a nice bar. It's quiet and limited mostly to members of the club. Every Sunday they feature different menu items. Sometimes it's a sandwich, sometimes it's clams. Bottles of Yuengling are a buck as are all cans and bottles.
The trouble is, this bar is a speakeasy. They have no liquor license. If you know anything about Pennsylvania you'll know the Liquor Control Board doesn't stand for that. Well, after 54 years of operating under the radar as a speakeasy, the gun club was raided last month. The state cops came barging in and made everyone leave. They confiscated the beer and the money and fined the bartenders $1,000 each. I'm just glad they didn't come in when they had poker tables set up. That would have been really bad. Now I know they broke the law, but it's a stupid law. The reason they didn't have a liquor license is because there were no liquor licenses to buy. The LCB is ironfisted in how they regulate liquor licenses. Some of their laws are draconion and stupid. Plus they are expensive. Very expensive. So expensive that many people who want to open bars or even restaurants which serve alcohol can't afford the cost of a new license. Add to that the high fees, insurance, and items to stay legal according to the LCB, and you have a major anti-business climate. The board of directors at the LCB are mostly a bunch of tea-toatlers who really don't like liquor and beer sales, but know it's great tax revenue. So just like cigarettes, they keep it around for the revenue but make it hard for stores to sell it; so much so that many bars which have been around for years and years are just closing up rather than put up with the LCB.
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Article comments
1 - JR
Wait, you're complaining because they busted a gun club for serving alcohol?
I don't know how bad the PA Liquor Control Board really is, but this might not be your strongest case against them.
I'm just sayin'.
2 - Tom
It's a hunting, fishing, and shooting club. They don't hold shoots when they are serving alcohol. During the non shooting times it's more of a social club.
Around here a lot of popular bars are actually speakeasies. Many need keys and cards to get in, but this one was not one of them.