A public hearing that may determine the fate of the proposed Shooting Creek Brewery on Thomas Farm Road near the Blue Ridge Parkway is scheduled for 10 a.m. Wednesday at the Virginia Regional Alcoholic Beverage Control Board at 2943-D Peters Creek Rd. in Roanoke.

Those who oppose the brewery plan to turn out in force. Those who support it should do the same.

See you there.

A gaggle of do-gooders came to my door the other day to solicit support for their efforts to block the Shooting Creek Brewery, a brew pub not far from our home.

Conversation went something like this:

Hi, did you know there is an effort to start a brew pub that will brew and serve beer?

Isn’t that what they do at brew pubs?

Yes, but we don’t think brew pubs belong in Floyd County.

Why not?

Because drinking is a sin.

It is? Didn’t Christ serve wine to his disciples?

That’s not the point. We don’t need a brew pub in Floyd County.

Again, I ask: Why not?

Because it will corrupt our children.

Last time I checked, the minimum age for drinking in the Commonwealth of Virginia is 21. There are a several places in Floyd County that sell and serve beer, wine and — in one case — mixed drinks. Seems like the kids have survived that.

Well, we want it stopped.

You came to the wrong house for support. Don’t come back or I’ll call the sheriff and charge you with trespassing. Good day.

Aftter they left, I wondered: When did prohibition return to Floyd County? We have wineries, a cider house, grocery stores and convenience stores that sell beer and wine and a number of restaurants that have licenses to sell alcohol. Why the sudden desire to stop a enterprising group of people who want to open a brew pub?

I’ve always found it fascinating how fundamentalist ministers yank out the Bible and start waving it around to preach against the dangers of demon rum (or beer or wine or whatever). The only sin that refers to the intake of nourishment or beverages is gluttony. In other words, it’s not against the preachings of God to drink a beer. It may be one to chug-a-lug a keg but that’s an argument for another day.

As regular readers of this site know, I’m a recovering alcoholic who has been sober 14 years, two months and two days. I serve as Floyd County’s representative on the New River Valley Alcohol Safety Action Program (ASAP) advisory board and am a volunteer counselor for an alcoholism treatment program.  However, I cannot — and will not — stand by and watch a bunch of self-anointed guardians of morality try and stifle free-enterprise in this county and force their narrow focus view of the world on the rest of the county. Floyd is not a dry county, nor should it be one. Our wineries draw tourists and bring in business and provide employment to a county where the unemployment rate is higher than the rest of Virginia. The Shooting Creek Brewery should be allowed to become an important part of the growing tourism-based economic engine of the area.

Three Baptist ministers are behind the effort get the residents of the Thomas Road area of Floyd County (just off the Parkway) to rise up in self-righteous indignation and stop the Virginia Alcohol Beverage Control Board from issuing a license for the Shooting Creek Brewery.  Perhaps it is time for others to rise up and put a stop to efforts of a few to impose their idea of "morality" on the majority. A public hearing is scheduled for Wednesday, Aug. 13 at 10 a.m. in the ABC office in Roanoke.

See you there.

…for road construction — at least along Virginia Rte. 8 in Montgomery County between Riner and the Floyd County line. Road crews have been widening the shoulders and repaving the highway for a few weeks now and you can be stopped for as long as 20 minutes going and coming during the evening hours.  It looks like the paving is almost complete to the bridge at Little River so the project should be over shortly.

Frank and Aileen Curruthers packed and loaded up their twin Harley Road Kings Monday and headed out on Rte. 8to Christiansburg and then West on U.S. 460. Eventually, they will hit U.S. 50 and head home to Nevada.

But their 10 day stay in and around Floyd was, they say, the highlight of their two-month odyssey around the country on their motorcycles.

"You’ve got something special here," Frank said. "It’s unique."

I met Frank and Aileen 12 days ago at the Rocky Knob Overlook on the Blue Ridge Parkway. They had ridden their bikes from Austin, Nevada to Annapolis, MD on U.S. 50, then took U.S. 1 south to Key West. They cruised back up the West Coast of Florida and toured through Georgia and South Carolina before hitting the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and then the Parkway from Asheville (with a detour over to U.S. 221 because of construction).

I asked if they had planned to visit FloydFest. They didn’t know about the annual event just a few miles down the road but decided to give it a try. They also visited the Friday Night Jamboree (below), toured the wineries and enjoyed the beauty of the Parkway.

Over coffee at Cafe del Sol, Frank said they will be back.

"Part of the reason for this trip was to look for a new place to live," he said. "We like what we see here."

As they rumbled out of town towards Christiansburg, 460 and the road home, I wandered down to the Country Store and sat on one of the benches, watching visitors wander the streets and a parade of cars and motorcycles. Many stopped. Some had lunch at Oddfellas. Some toured the Country Store. Some stopped to talk. All had nice things to say about Floyd.

Yes, we do have something special here…and it just keeps getting better.