European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 9, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Magazine pc looking out for own users tha How of illicit liquor la m trickle today compared to what it ones a. There s still lots of Moonshine out there by Bob Dvorchak associated Pressa s they often do when times arc hard in Appalachia some Hill Folk have gone Back 1o the Woods to fire up their favorite moneymaker the Moonshine still. That s what prompted Sale liquor agents wearing camouflage fatigues a wait from Sunrise to Sundown for 14 Days last summer to bust a gallon still in these southwestern Pennsylvania Hills. I d rather do this than anything else in the world said Doyle Sykes one of the agents with the Sale liquor control Board. It s a real Challenge. Those people Are super Small. When you gel them you feel so Good because you know you outsmarted them. The Low of illicit liquor is a trickle today compared to what it once was but some still watchers say Moon shining is on the increase again partly because of the Economy and cutbacks in Federal welfare or thet a lots of Moonshine out there Sykes said. Ii slowed Down for a while bul in the last couple of years it s picked up again. It s coming Back. Terni. Are Tough said James Mcdonald another la nor Anent people Are hurling for Money. They re xtos8 cd anyway they can. It s family tradition. It s a Way of  said bunt no 60. The subject of a biography called Moonshine. A Lite in Pursuit of while liquor. A liquor store can t sell on credit or Aller hours or to minors a Bootlegger or a shot House can set All night. My personal opinion is when they crack Down and make it so Light on drugs people go Back to liquor and All through the years whenever the Economy got bad they d go to the Woods last year in Kentucky where 77 of 120 counties Ore dry of Licals sacked eight skills the most in any year in this decade. It s not on As Large a scale but there s enough of it that it s beginning to show said Carl Harmon a supervisor with Kentucky s alcoholic beverage control Board. I believe in s because the Federal government has Cut Back on some of its welfare programs. People Are looking to make sex Ira Money  is Clandestine work done by night skills Are slashed in desolate hollows abandoned mines Chicken coops hog pens old school buses. Agents have found them in basements and apartments As Well As Backwoods seclusion. They have found slits powered by old water healer coils and Mash fermenting in boo gallon stainless steel milk tanks. Moonshine is made from Rye or other fermentable grains sugar and yeast. The fixings Are mixed with warm water in a Mash Lor several Days unlit it Breaks Down into alcohol. Then it s cooked Over a lame so its Vapours can be fed into a coiled condenser and distilled into whiskey. Moonshine is also called White lightning for its fiery Wallop and Clear color. But Bunting cautions potential drinkers lots of limes i found possums Hawks or snakes in fermenting Mash. These animals eat the Mash get drunk and fall tuesday decembers 1986 in and die. They work right along Wilh the Mash. You find maggots and  it was nothing but fun. I d love to be doing it  said one former Moonshiner now working in an office Job. I be kept my stuff. In s my insurance Poky if i Ever need to make a  Moonshine is illegal because in is untaxed a gallon of Hooch Sells for $25 to $30, and a bottle of 80-Prool Bou Bon can be bought legally in Pennsylvania for $25.95. The slate and Federal lacs on a Bollte of booze am Cunt to 64 cents on the Dollar. Southwestern Pennsylvania has been a Haven for Moonshiner Tor nearly 200 years. In 1794, president Washington sent Federal soldiers to quell the whiskey rebellion the Fisl internal crisis of the Republic Farmers were distilling Thair Grain into whiskey because it was easier to transport but they walked at paying Federal taxes on in some tax collectors were tarred and feathered before order was restored Moon Ahling persists in Fayelle county a Mon Vainous area located South of Pittsburgh Al the Northern lip of Appalachia of its 160,000 residents about 9 Percal arc jobless and 13 percent Are on welfare ii was there in july Hal stale agents arrested Jackie Wayne Jordan or. �1. A lewd general Ion Moonshiner. Send were 750 Gallons of fermenting Mash and his father s 1974 Chevy the year Belore agents bus led Jordan s lather for running a 75-gallon still in a Clay mine. I was just trying to make a Lilloo Money said the younger Jordan who is on welfare Wilh his wife and child i m pretty Well a Royce i figured i d make just enough to gel me  Jordan has applied to enter a Chabi Lillion program to avoid criminal charges. And he swears hell brew no More. Ii stops Here now Jordan said i be quit mussing Wiltil All  a Lormer Moonshiner who did not want to be Idon fied said he made $1.000 a week in the 1960s Browing Moonshine in Fayette county. A gallon Cost 50 cents to make and sold for s5 Back then. I full i was working for every Nickel i made he said. The Only one gelling Cal was the tax Man. The Farmer was making Money on Grain. The grocer was making Money on sugar. I was making Good whiskey i was t on welfare or  but Moonshine can be dangerous in can be poisoned by contaminated stills causing Dalh. Blindness and other ills some of these Guys use old car radiators As a condenser and you can gel Lead poisoning from i a solder or the Lead sails from Anli freeze said Jack Killorin spokesman for the us. Treasury department s 8ureau of alcohol firearms and tobacco. The other harm is loss of revenues people Are being robbed of services those taxes would  in 1935,1he Lisl year records were kept Fedora agents seized 15.712 stills. By 1965. The number had dropped to 7.432. In 1975. It was 889 last year eight wore raided by the feds known in the Hills As  Moonshine is no longer the illegal consumable of preference said Killorin Noling that those wanting to gel High canopy for cocaine pot and pills. It s so rare As to be As close As possible to non existent in terms of major criminal activity and the threat of sizable loss of Federal tax revenues economics were also a Factor in the drop Oil. The Price of sugar once s10 for 100 pounds tripled and pushed Many Moonshiner out of business. Aft agents Are More concerned with gun control and homemade bombs these Days enforcement Falls to slate agents whose priorities include underage drinking bars thai keep serving patrons who Are drunk Speake Asies policing out of stale liquor gambling in bars and other activities i Don t believe Moonshine has a very High priority at All said Robert Ford of the Pennsylvania liquor control Board. Family Type stills have been going on for generations. Bui there s a limit As to How much you can Market and  besides he said in s hard work. You have to hide those things. You have to haul All that equipment Back into the Woods and then guard it and protect  the stars and stripes Page 13