Letters: Cold beer in convenience stores encourages drunk driving

We have laws against drinking and driving and against driving with open containers of alcohol. Ask your senator or representative why, then, we let merchants sell cold beer to go.

Virtually all convenience stores sell beer from the cooler or even an iced-down container. Do we really believe people are buying these and not drinking them in their vehicles?

Every quarter I pick up litter with my church on three streets in our neighborhood. One short street named Green Pines is always littered with beer cans. There is a convenience store less than a half mile away. Apparently one individual buys Bud Lites, drinks them in that short drive and throws the cans out regularly. We often find two or even three cans in the same bag, indicating he drank them all in that short drive.

Sell beer warm, and we go a long way toward solving the litter problem and the DUI problem.