Shipping 15 Case of Beer to Alabama the Wrong Way

Gloria Crisantes Salazar of Alabama was stopped driving south on Interstate 65 in Alabama with 15 cases of 40-ounce bottles of Bud Light inside the cabin of her vehicle. She could have been charged with transporting untaxed alcohol into Alabama, transporting more than 5 gallons of alcohol in her vehicle, and trasnporting alcohol in the cab of the vehicle rather than the trunk. She was only charged with misdemeanor transporting of prohibited liquor. The article did not mention where she purchased the beer. Presumably it was outside of Alabama.

In Alabama, you can only buy 1 case of beer or two fifths of liquor in a wet county for transport into a dry county, and it must be in the trunk of the vehicle.

Limestone County Sheriff Mike Blakely was quoted as saying: “It isn’t something we are out there looking for. We don’t do beer patrols in Limestone County — we have plenty of theft and drug cases that take precedence — but a person could be arrested for it.”

Salazar is in the country illegally and is being held for immigration officers for possible deportation. The article is vague as to why she was stopped, but quite clear on her immigration status.  Did the officer see more than one case of beer, or her brown skin, or was she speeding?

At any rate, let this be a lesson to us: hide the beer.

Shipping 20 Cases of Beer to L.A. the Long Way

Smokey and The Bandit came to theaters in 1977, just three years before I graduated.  It rode the CB radio craze of the time, and paved the way for The Dukes of Hazzard.

In the movie, Bandit (played by Burt Reynolds) is hired to bring 400 cases of Coors to Atlanta  (At the time, it was not distributed east of Texas) within 24 hours, round trip. I confess, I have always wanted replicate the trip, albeit without the big rig, the beer, the Camaro, and the police pursuit.

Imagine my surprise when Jonny Lieberman of Motortrend wrote about his 3000 mile, twenty case "smuggling" run. Besides a great travel article, it's also a good car article.