A new law just passed, one I am calling it financially suicidal for smaller towns and stupid because it will inevitably cause more unemployment and it make it just a little too easy to put alcohol in curious and irresponsible hands.

Thanks to this splendid new law that passed by a landslide, perhaps by virtue of a $22 million contribution by Costco to assure that the initiative would cross the finish line with flying colors, the future survival of your neighborhood-run, state-authorized, liquor outlet, will now depend almost solely on customer loyalty to remain afloat.

But before sashaying down to your local grocery or drug store to get some kind of intoxicating libation, consider paying an extra peso or two for your purchases to support the local economy.

In the town I have chosen to live in, it would appear the local spirits shop has in the past been quite the social beehive of activity, usually featuring heavy traffic, nearly every time I have pulled into the post office right next door, to pick up my bills and junk mail.

Betty Jo Large, who has rented this cozy little outfit from the city of Buckley, with the barbershop conveniently affixed to it for the past decade or so, could probably use the help of local inhabitants to keep her business in the pink…or actually, in the black.

Betty Jo has been paying rent to the city in order to run her relatively successful enterprise out of that quaint little place for some time now, and the hamlet of Buckley, like most tiny cities in dire straights right now as they try to balance their annual budget, has been receiving around $50,000 annually.

Thanks to this absurd new legal development, brought about primarily by corporate greed, this amiable agreement is probably not going to be transpiring much longer.

In a related story, feel free to continue being a loyal customer to Betty Jo by purchasing those pleasing and relaxing alcoholic beverages at the Buckley liquor store. However, please wait until you’ve safely returned to the comfort of your own living room prior to uncapping said vessels of hooch.

That is no myth regarding Buckley’s finest’s aptitude for spotting drunk drivers, particularly during this melancholy holiday season. Do they honestly think there is nobody monitoring that fog line on the shoulder?

One of Buckley’s boys in blue, Officer Kevin Goss, was recently recognized by Mother’s Against Drunk Driving and the Tacoma/Pierce County Victim’s Information Panel, among other worthwhile organizations, for his vigilant recording of over 100 DUI arrests so far in 2011.

I do not mean to sound the least bit sarcastic when I issue a personal thanks to Goss for keeping pixilated motorists off the road.

I am not going to mince words here. It really ticks me off when people get behind the wheel of a vehicle after imbibing way too heavily to make clear decisions. Drunk drivers kill themselves, and others, all because they were to plastered to make the painfully obvious choice to call a cab or a friend. Call the long-term financial and life-saving misery a worthwhile by-product of their effort.