‘God will surely punish us’
When I was growing up in Iowa, the Methodists, as the largest religious denomination in Iowa, controlled the state legislature. Since Methodism is a dry religion, the sale and consumption of liquor was severely restricted. Each bottle purchased at a state-owned liquor store was recorded in a book which often had to be produced for prospective employers and fathers-in-law. Then we got a recovering alcoholic governor, Harold Hughes, who changed all that in 1963. If those people knew that Iowa is now using its corn to produce corn liquor, they would be turning in their graves!
Carroll County now has a legally produced Templeton Rye whiskey, Al Capone’s favorite during Prohibition. Those Germans in Carroll County were not going to quit drinking just because some Methodists thought they should! And our Methodist neighbor in Carroll built a fence around his patio so we could not see him drinking beer in the summer.
Now Grimes is producing a corn-based liquor called Sipp’n Sweet Corn. What is the world coming to? God will surely punish us for having too much fun in this life instead of waiting until the next!
Gary Thelen
West Des Moines
Corrections and clarifications:
We published information regarding the arrest of Christian Thomas Berkley Hein, 18, of Urbandale, on Oct. 14 in our Rapsheet column (“Name That Crime,” Oct. 25) with charges of public intoxication; assault causing serious injury with intent to commit sexual abuse; fourth-degree criminal mischief; child endangerment (non-violent); and probation violation. This information was accessed from the Polk County Sheriff’s Department website on Oct. 15, 2012. As of Oct. 30, 2012, the charges on the website had been changed to public intoxication – alcohol or drugs; assault with intent to inflict serious injury; criminal mischief – 4th degree; child endangerment (all others – nonviolent); probation violation; and obstruction of emergency communications.
The Ames band, Come Unity, played at Wooly’s last week. It was mistaken for a band of the same name from California (Sound Notes, Nov. 11).
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