Tales of the Mountain People I am the tale catcher. I am compelled to capture and preserve the old ways of the mountain people. My old moonshiner friend came to see me yesterday. He drove a long way because he wanted to know how I liked the feller he brought up here last weekend to fix me up with. “Well? Whatdyda think of ‘m? He is SO excited about finding me a man. You can see it in his shining eyes. He is MUCH more excited about it than I am, or the feller is. I’m sure. I want to hear his stories though. I asked him about the times he was arrested for making moonshine. The last time he was charged was in 1989. He was on the Blue Ridge Parkway in a souped up truck on his way to Philly with a load of liquor. A park ranger stopped him during a routine traffic check. He told me how the event unfolded. The ranger asked him if he had any deer or wild game on the truck. No. Sir. I don’t. He said the ranger was looking around in the vehicle for guns or other evidence he was hunting on the parkway. But I have a feeling that someone had turned him in and the ranger was using the traffic check as an excuse to search his vehicle. Making moonshine isn’t illegal because of possible harm it can do to the consumer. You can buy all the spirits you want at the liquor store. Making moonshine is illegal solely because of the government’s TAXES. Our people settled in these mountains and stayed here, although it is a hard life, primarily because we just want to be left alone. For the mountain people it is a God given right to make their own moonshine. The ranger asked my friend if he had a driver’s license. Yes Sir. And he handed him his license. The ranger went to the back of the truck and started removing the blankets or whatever the liquor was hid under. He picked up a jar and asked, What is this? “Water”, my friend answered him. He removed the lid and smelled of it. He slammed the jar back down angrily and asked my friend if he is carrying a gun. No. Sir. I’m not. He first padded him down and then told my friend to pull his truck over there in front of Ranger Brown’s car. At that point the truck was still running, there in the middle of the road. My buddy said he got in his truck and FLOORED it. He left the ranger standing there, with a set of black marks and a driver’s license, is the way he told it. Later in court the ranger told the judge that he followed him in a high speed chase. The ranger was going 90 and 100 miles an hour but my friend “flew away” is what the ranger told the judge. But the ranger had his driver’s license. He was fined $12,000 and put on probation for five years. It had been 28 years since his last arrest. He has pictures of himself in jail from that time. He said he will bring me copies.
Posted on: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 14:40:18 +0000
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