March 24, 2010
State’s decision to ban booze comes as surprise
Michael A. Sawyers
Cumberland Times-News
— CUMBERLAND — Local alcoholic beverage officials, merchants and recreationists agree that they had no idea the Maryland Department of Natural Resources had banned the possession and consumption of beer, wine and liquor in state forests until they read about it in Wednesday’s Times-News.
Maryland State Forester Steve Koehn said Tuesday that the policy was adopted because rowdy imbibers at times had ruined the camping experiences for others.
“We realize that some people will be annoyed with this regulation, but we believe that the greater good is being served,” Koehn said.
Contacted again on Wednesday, Koehn said his agency has ongoing authority to restrict alcohol use, thus a public hearing process was not needed for that action.
“We are informing people about the ban on a one-by-one basis when they call in to reserve a campsite,” Koehn said. “For those who use a self reservation system at the forest, we have posted signs at the camping pads.”
Koehn said information about the ban may also be put on the DNR Web site.
A similar ban has been in effect at state parks since last year and one is being drafted for wildlife management areas.
John Stakem, owner of Broadway Liquors in Frostburg and the president of the Allegany County Liquor Dealers Association, said Wednesday that the forest ban was news to him.
“I live in Frostburg and I know that 3 percent of the university students cause problems and 97 percent of the kids are good. It isn’t a 100-percent perfect world. Why regulate the people who do things the right way?” he said.
Stakem, who often attends Maryland General Assembly sessions in Annapolis to represent the alcoholic beverage industry, said he will study the new ban before deciding about any action he may take.
John Boal, sales manager for Western Maryland Distributing Co., said the forest service ban is likely to have a widespread local impact.
“We have four stores we distribute to near Green Ridge State Forest, including Bill’s Place,” Boal said. “This ban will hurt those stores and in turn hurt our business. That means it will hurt our drivers and sales representatives, all local people who spend their money locally.”
Bill’s Place owner Bill Schoenadel said the ban will ruin business at his Little Orleans establishment, tucked between the Potomac River and Green Ridge State Forest. Schoenadel operates a tavern there and sells take-out beer.
Schoenadel contends that there is nothing wrong with hunters or anglers drinking beer at their public campsites at the end of a day of recreation, something that has recently become illegal.
Sen. George Edwards said Wednesday from Annapolis that he considers the alcohol ban to be a major change.
“You would think with a big change in policy that the DNR would call some kind of public gathering and say ‘hey, this is what we’re doing and this is why we’re doing it,’ ” Edwards said. “At least people would have been on notice instead of learning about it after the fact. I didn’t know about it until now. If they want to be a transparent agency, this would have been a good opportunity for them to show it.
“I haven’t heard anything from the state forest people up home about this being a big problem. I guess now if you want to have a family picnic on the state grounds and you have a certain kind of cold drink you are breaking the law,” Edwards said.
Sid Turner, who owns Chestnut Ridge Liquor Store at Grantsville, said Wednesday that he showed the newspaper article to numerous customers.
“I got the same reaction from everybody,” Turner said. “They said ‘that’s (expletive deleted).’ ”
Turner said that the ban on alcohol at New Germany and Big Run state parks has already cut into his sales and he expects the ban at nearby Savage River State Forest to further decrease business.
Turner is also the vice president of the Citizens Rights and Heritage Group, a formalized organization that acts as a watchdog of state government actions that affect Garrett County.
“We will be bringing this up at our next meeting,” Turner said.
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