Highland, UT is a previously dry city in NE Utah County, and it is very Mormon. It is next to Alpine, UT, and near the entrance to American Fork Canyon and Timpanogos National Monument.

The city was only incorporated in 1977, which surprised me. It had 2,400 residents at the time. It now has 20,000. And of course their self-image was that they have "values", so no alcohol allowed, period, and most businesses had to close on Sundays. The Alpine Country Club (Paul Dunn used to be a member) was exempt since it existed before the city did.

The net result is that there is nothing there but fast-food restaurants.

A developer said he would like to create a shopping district with some nice sit-down restaurants, but they insist on having an alcohol license in the restaurant before they will sign on. The city council did a survey that got a huge response, triple what they usually get from citizen surveys, and 62% favored issuing restaurant alcohol licenses. So the city council approved that.

The "pure as the driven snow" faction in the city tried to get signatures to put two referendums on the ballot, but both failed to get enough signatures. One fell only 72 signatures short.

So, four restaurant liquor licenses have been issued - restaurant only, which means food must also be ordered (you can't just buy a drink), and no service past 10 pm. I doubt beer will be allowed in the grocery stores, and I don't think this changes the Sunday closing rules, but I don't know that - the KUER story did not specify.

Anyway, the legalization of adulthood is finally encroaching on Highland. Woo Hoo.

All of this because Joe's wife complained about his friends being pigs.

bradley Wrote:
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> All of this because Joe's
> wife complained about his
> friends being pigs.


    I disagree, but not vehemently...

    I think it was Wilford Woodruff (Wolfriend Wruffwood?) who had the stick up his butt about how the WoW should be a COMMANDMENT.

    The absolute, rock-solid, verifiable basis for changing it to a commandment was economic:  The economy of 1850-187? Deseret was in the crapper and 'hard' currency, meaning anything other than Deseret currency, was in short supply and kept getting in shorter and shorter supply as Saints spent their hard currency on coffee, tea, tobacco and liquor from 'America', their cousin to the East.

    The church was making a claim, for a while, on their website (mormon.com) that the WoW suggestion became a commandment in 1851 when, during a GC, Brigham jumped up to interrupt another speaker (the church patriarch), to challenge those assembled to live the WoW.  His proposal was 100% ratified by those in attendance...

    But the record is clear that NOTHING happened in terms of day-to-day life in Deseret; the WoW was NOT viewed as being a commandment.  WW used to complain that he'd preach at a stake conference about living the WoW but then that same evening, at the SP's house, he'd be offered liquor, coffee, and tobacco as part of the evening's entertainment.

    The church has the worst case ever of 'don't look behind the curtain!!'


    Again, BY's motivation was economic, not ecclesiastical.  Sound familiar?

It was Heber J. Grant who, in 1921, made the WoW a prerequisite for a temple recommend. Before then there were occasional bouts of cajolery but precious little enforcement.

But didn't he allow bishops and SPs to give old folk a break?

Who was it that finally said everyone had to toe the line?

elderolddog Wrote:
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> But didn't he allow bishops and SPs to give old
> folk a break?
>
> Who was it that finally said everyone had to toe
> the line?

I nominate SWK. It may not have been him personally, but the big change began with church financial restructuring where all the money collected at the ward level bypassed the stake and went straight thru to SLC.

In an oddity, I went to a stake priesthood meeting with my dad at 11 or 12. I think the talk presented dealt with Accountability. It was a strange one because it was about leaders who have been given a sacred mantle to watch over the flock. In a nutshell, men were told that if they chose to shield members from dishing out punishments or church discipline, then the sins of members would be cast upon them.

I remember the stake meeting being an unpleasant evening. It greatly foretold the many changes that would sweep the church in the 1980s. My recently called bishop had no problems casting judgment upon all members. Many members who were physically in mentally out were told to leave. Many of my church age friends were disciplined and never returned.

Yeah. Progress. Old timers in Alpine and Highland have been diluted. All these tech companies that Utah government lured there with tax breaks, tax rebates and other incentives have tripled local populations, usually with non-mormons. Now locals are screaming about atheist, California liberals taking over. When it was Utah mormon greedy republican politicians and developers that brought them there. Smiths Grocery (Kroger's) built a store right across the border (about 300 feet) from Highland. They sell a lot of beer and are open on Sundays. Highland and Alpine are losing millions in taxes to surrounding cities, so look for the Sunday laws and beer laws to be gone soon.

Ah, yes, the Smiths just outside city limits. I remember that store. Some of the locals were livid, but it did a brisk Sunday business.

I saw a similar phenomenon in Texas, where engineers moving in to work at Texas Instruments diluted the Southern Baptist population and legalized alcohol sales.

I fully expect as tech companies move into the area near Point of the Mountain, and college educated workers move in, the population will get more liberal. The usual pearl-clutchers will view with alarm. Snicker.

This same thing happened to my small southern city. The 1996 Atlanta Olympics were coming to us. White water events are a big draw 25 miles from my home. Our city would be the closest place for athletes and attendees to stay and eat. One problem - alcohol sales were prohibited in our county and the county where the Olympics were going to be held. There was a referendum and it passed with a clear majority to allow liquor by the drink. Beer could also now be sold on Sundays. The fears of alcohol based traffic accidents never occurred. In fact, drunk driving decreased as folks here did not need to drive 30 miles to Chattanooga to have a drink at a restaurant any more. Excellent restaurants opened in our town.

Mormons did something similar in Utah when the Winter Olympics were here in 2002. They didn't want to appear "weird" to the rest of the world, so they suspended a lot of our stupid mormon liquor laws for 2 months. There were still issues. Citizens can't buy kegs in Utah, so the Country's Team HQ couldn't get kegs in their Team houses. Utah looked the other way while Idaho brought in kegs. We still found ways to piss off the world. They allowed Beer Gardens for the first time ever, but they had cops checking ID at all the tents and patios. I was behind one 80 year old German guy that thought it was ridiculous that he was asked for his ID, he started arguing with the "stupid cop". I told him that it was State law and he said "Utah is a stupid place". I said, "It's the mormons". He looked at me and you could see color rising in his face and said "Fucking Mormons". I laughed and nodded and said "Yep". He later sat at a table by my wife and me and we made eye contact. I raised my glass in a toast and said "Fucking Mormons". He smiled, raised his glass to his new American friend and repeated "Fucking Mormons". My wife and I, as well as some of our friends that know the story will sometimes toast each other at ski resorts, bars and parties with "Fucking Mormons" Good times.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/13/2024 12:54PM by stillanon.

The IOC is currently in Utah visiting venues. They were at the Oval in Kearns yesterday.

That is how it most often starts. Alcoholic beverages are allowed in restaurants with a food purchase. It can develop further from there.

Maryland had "blue laws" for quite a long time. You could not buy alcohol on Sundays. Stores could not be open on Sundays. That changed sometime in the 90's, IIRC.