Oconee’s famous and infamous history with booze

If you lived in Oconee County 100 years ago, you could have distinguished yourself by being a member of the county’s Temperance Association.  Prohibition was a sign of the times in the early 20th century.  Fast forward all those years to a time in Oconee where the attitude about drinking, especially on Sundays, is as permissive as ever.  Seneca’s Lowell Ross says it’s remarkable how easily referenda in both Seneca and Oconee County to allow sales and consumption on the Lord’s Day were passed in recent years by the voters.  Ross, a history buff now in his 80s, recalls a love-hate relationship in Oconee County to drinking.  That relationship extends from the days of prohibition, to bootlegging, to the I-Buy Dry campaign of the 1970s to today’s changed attitudes.