Is the Party Back On the Bogue Chitto?
Finally, a Mississippi Supreme Court decision of imminent importance to the masses. On Thursday the Supreme Court decided Ryals v. Board of Supervisors, a “landmark” decision involving whether the Pike County Board of Supervisors can outlaw drinking on the “pristine” Bogue Chitto River and Topisaw Creek.
The Board of Supervisors banned possessing and consuming alcohol on the river due to landowner complaints of littering, profanity, lewd behavior and…. two dozen reports of individual acts of perversion…. so profound and disgusting… that decorum prohibits listing them here.
Unfortunately for local business owners, no one wants to tube if they can't get their drink on. Business was down 90% following the ban, leading to the lawsuit. Pike County Circuit Court Judge David Strong sided with the Board of Supervisors and upheld the ban. The business owners appealed.
First, the good news for inner tubing drunks. The Supreme Court struck down the ban on possession of beer on the River. You can take all the beer you want with you on your float.
Now the bad news. You can't drink it. The Court upheld the prohibition of consumption of alcohol on the River.
Will Bardwell—a lifetime Bogue Chitto River Rat—apparently theorizes that drinking on the sandbars will be permitted. I'm going to have to disagree. My interpretation of the decision is that it effectively means that the River will stay dry.
I'm not certain because I am not an Ole Miss fan, but this policy sounds like the exact opposite of the alcohol rules in the Grove before Ole Miss football games.
