Won't Someone Please Think Of The Children?

The effort by Pennsylvania grocery stores to be allowed to sell beer hit a snag yesterday at a Liquor Control Board hearing. Senator John C. Rafferty, the Berks County Republican who chairs the Senate Law and Justice Committee, says he's worried that allowing beer sales in grocery stores will cause problems for the poor, impressionable teenagers who work in those stores:

"You have a lot of underaged people who work in grocery markets. I'm very concerned over the age issue. I'm very concerned over how it will be handled and the possible sale to minors."

I'm sure his concerns are based on solid research from the many states which allow beer sales in grocery stores, and has nothing to do with the fact that his committee oversees the PCLB, which is fighting to keep its state-sanctioned monopoly in the face of a desire for increased competition in the alcohol sales market.

What's it going to take for Pennsylvania to scrap its unnecessarily Byzantine liquor, wine and beer laws, and allow consumers the sort of choice that they're allowed in most states in this country?