Nicky Cheese

From citizen-times.com, a story of the feds busting up an illegal moonshine distillery in the south-east boonies:

Maggie Valley moonshine legend Marvin “Popcorn” Sutton is in jail again after authorities in east Tennessee said they uncovered a large whiskey distillery housed in a barn near his home. He also faces charges coming from a Monday seizure of moonshine in a Haywood County storage facility…he was making untaxed whiskey at multiple locations in Parrottsville, Tenn., about 50 miles east of Knoxville near the North Carolina state line.

Yes sirree! There he is, my main man “Popcorn”!

Woulda gotten away with it too…if it wasn’t fer that blasted book. And, well, I suppose the film didn’t help of much either…

Sutton’s craft has brought him a level of fame in the mountains, especially in recent years with the release of his film “The Last Run of Likker I’ll Ever Make” and book “Me and My Likker.”

But, say what you will about the self-promotion, the punishment hardly fits the crime.

Sutton faces up to 10 years in federal prison on a charge of possession of a firearm by a felon and five years for each of the three moonshining charges. He could also face heavy fines…

And, of course, the fed’s bullshit attempt to spin the story:

But U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents who helped arrest Sutton said moonshine operations like his should not be treated lightly.

“Moonshine is romanticized in folklore and the movies. The truth, though, is that moonshine is a dangerous health issue and breeds other crime,” ATF Special Agent James Cavanaugh said in a statement. “The illegal moonshine business is fraud on taxpayers in Tennessee and across the country,” he said.

…a “fraud on taxpayers”. Yeeaah…gimme a break. It’s tax evasion or fraud on government and I support it. Put it to a vote, I’m sure the tax-paying public feels the same way. Because we’re all really counting, depending, on the government services that come from liquor taxes…