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Such a study would surely want to examine the slapstick events that occurred last winter next door in Colbert County. After seven referendums in 25 years, Colbert County (pop. 54,519) voted itself wet, 10,576 to 9,411, while Lauderdale County (pop. 80,546) watched in disbelief. The first liquor store opened in the municipality of Tuscumbia. On a single day, it handled 6,500 transactions. In its first week, it took in $152,000. Cars with Lauderdale plates filled the square. Three policemen worked the traffic jams, and the lines were so long only ten people at a time were allowed in the store. The first holiday the store closed, the manager came in to square his accounts and reported that customers practically "beat down the door all day."
Herrold Henson, a Linotype operator in Florence, seat of Lauderdale, and a former bootlegger ("I used to haul a little"), recalled driving across the Tennessee River to Colbert County, standing outside in line for 45 minutes, buying his fill and sharing with friends a half pint of bourbon in the car on the way home, such was the giddiness here. Before Colbert went wet, people in Florence had to drive 65 miles to the east, to Madison County, to buy a legal drink. In fact, of the 18 counties that constitute north Alabama, only that one was wet. Bringing out-of-state spirits into Alabama has always been as illegal as trying to smuggle a Cuban cigar past customs, and law enforcement along the border has for years tested the elasticity of search-and-seizure laws.
In the past year, about 120 establishments that serve alcohol have opened in Colbert County, and the availability of hooch has profoundly changed the region. Just one example: in the old days, it was a matter of honor for the people of a dry county, when traveling to a wet county, to offer to haul liquor back home to their friends. "Now the whole nature of our hospitality has been altered," said Wade. With booze so close, he observed, "if you have to go to Georgia, all you can offer is to bring back some peaches."
That is but the short of it. Economically, said one elected Colbert County official who asked, understandably, to keep his name to himself, "liquor has been our salvation." F.E. Draper, the former mayor of Sheffield and the head of the campaign for strong drink, claimed, "We're bringing 2,000 people a day into Colbert County who didn't use to come here, and one of the distributors estimates they're spending $50 each. That's $100,000 a day."