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Meg wrote:

“Water is the only drink for a wise man”. -- Henry David Thoreau

So I reply:

"The tavern will compare favorably with the church. The church is the place where prayers and sermons are delivered, but the tavern is where they are to take effect, and if the former are good, the latter cannot be bad." -- Henry David Thoreau

Meg adds:

"We can go quote for quote, there are millions to support each side."

So I observe:

Yes, that's true, but you seem to be missing a few key points in this regard:

1) You are pulling random quotes from whatever far corners of the Internet to support your point. I am intentionally countering with quotes that support the opposite point of view but, in each case, from the same speaker. What I am subtly trying to do (and apparently it's too subtle) is demonstrate that there is a balance to everything, even among the noteworthy words of the same great thinkers and speakers.

2) You fired the first round in this admittedly pompous exchange, but you also seem to be insisting on having the last quote. Unfortunately for both of us, I'm wired in a way that notices things like this. I suppose you'll have me stumped for a comeback if you quote Carrie Nation -- and I don't doubt you can throw a few of those out verbatim -- but I'll take my chances.

At your request, let's return to your point. You said:

It is illegal in the state of RI to have free tastings of alcohol outside of your established business. The original permit was denied to Brickyard and the owner circumvented the system under the guise of a fundraiser, selling tickets to raise money for TapIN, making the tasting no longer free.

For the first sentence, would you please share the RI statute to which you are referring? I would like to read it for myself. I don't doubt you, but this is one of those "trust but verify" situations. Humor me, if you will.

For the second sentence, how do you come by this knowledge? Did Mr. Cicione tell you personally that his permit had been denied and that he had cooked up this Machiavellian scheme to get around the regs? Or do you work in the licensing office and were the one responsible for rejecting his application for a permit? Or is there another reason why you seem to have first-hand knowledge of this situation?

I have to observe that you've made a few statements in the article and in your subsequent posts that don't seem to hold water. I'm happy to point them out one by one, but let's just focus on these last two:

1) What is the specific RI statute you're citing, and

2) How is it that you have so much inside knowledge concerning Mr. Cicione's retail business, or is it really all just supposition on your part?

You said above that these were your "intent for contacting the paper". Surely you'll be willing to give us the answers.