The iron fist of enforced southern morality has loosened its grip on the town of Starkville, Mississippi.

I sit at the bar in the The Grill in the heart of Starkville’s Cotton District .  The Cotton District is positively aglow with shiny red open signs.  To find so many restaurants to choose from open on a Sunday seems odd.  What is earth shatteringly different is that I have a refreshing Tanqueray and Tonic in my hand.

This is Sunday…this town should be in full Baptist enforced lockdown.  Starkville has been a town governed by prohibition era “Blue Laws” for the better part of a century.  Recently those old laws have started to change though. 

In a move that has been attributed to both the poor economy and the steady passing of the older political guard Starkville recently legalized the sale of beer, liquor, and wine on Sundays.  There are quite a few folks out testing the waters on this first “wet” Sunday since the incorporation of the town.  Like many others I was slightly apprehensive about flaunting my progressive nature by sipping the Devil’s nectar on a Sunday.  I expected rows of protestors fresh from the pulpit and dressed in there Sunday finest ready to call me out as a heathen and threatening to make my act of immorality known about town.

The mood around Starkville’s downtown is actually quite sunny for such a rainy day.  The various restaurants could even be described as bustling with new Sunday business.  Every once and awhile I take a look around this town and smile when it gets something right…I’m wearing a big toothy grin today.

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