Opinion ID: 2533697
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 7

Heading: Consumption

Text: ¶ 19. The provision of the ordinance prohibiting consumption of alcoholic beverages on portions of the two specified waterways is a different creature. Mississippi Code Sections 67-1-7 and 67-3-65 expressly make it legal to possess alcoholic beverages within Pike County; however, these statutes are silent on the issue of consumption. Moreover, no other Mississippi statute announces the legislature's will to regulate the matter of consumption of alcoholic beverages in wet counties. ¶ 20. In Maynard v. City of Tupelo, this Court considered a Tupelo municipal ordinance which prohibited commercial establishments in Tupelo from allowing consumption of alcohol between the hours of midnight and 7 a.m. Maynard v. City of Tupelo, 691 So.2d 385, 386 (Miss.1997). The ordinance did not penalize individuals who possessed alcohol, but limited the penalties to the commercial establishments which allowed their patrons to consume alcohol or possess open containers on such establishments' premises. Id. at 388. In upholding the ordinance, this Court noted: The Legislature has not clearly expressed an intent that the consumption of alcoholic beverages, as opposed to the mere possession thereof, be permitted without limitation in wet areas. Absent such a clear expression of intent ... this Court will allow the ordinance to stand. Id. (emphasis added). ¶ 21. Because the legislature has not spoken directly on the issue of consumption of alcoholic beverages in wet counties, the Pike County provision relating to consumption of alcoholic beverages on the specified portions of the two streams does not contradict any state statute; therefore, the Pike County Board of Supervisors was within the power granted to it by Section 19-3-40(1) to enact and enforce that provision of the ordinance. Miss.Code Ann. § 19-3-40(1) (Rev. 2003).