Daily Herald opinion: Changing attitudes and behaviors make it reasonable to review some rules on liquor

This editorial represents the consensus opinion of The Daily Herald Editorial Board.

Illinois has a long and complicated relationship with booze.

Jittery images of G-men taking axes to barrels of frothy beer during Prohibition seem like another world a century later.

That Illinoisan Al Capone was at the center of the revolt against Prohibition probably lends to our conflicted feelings about alcohol. But 89 years after Prohibition was repealed, we've never quite shaken the notion that alcohol is sinful. Tighter rules on selling it on Sunday mornings point to that.

These days, one can purchase recreational cannabis in a long list of state-sanctioned and -taxed dispensaries across the suburbs. Just a few years ago, you needed a dealer.

You still can't buy pot legally in Wheaton, but you can in most of the towns that surround it.

While we have advocated against the legalization of recreational marijuana, the suburbs are well on their way to accept - and profit - from the sale of it. But as recently as a decade ago, some Chicago suburbs would not allow liquor sales at gas stations. Other towns didn't allow bars. Depending on whether customers were stopping in for a snack or a full meal determined whether they could have a cocktail with it. The lingering uncomfortability of selling alcohol, notably on Sunday mornings, seems incongruous.

An admittedly old study by the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration indicates that it's not Sunday mornings we need to worry so much about. Its research showed that over the course of 10 years, the three-hour period of day between 9 a.m. and noon on all days of the week combined accounted for the lowest percentage of alcohol-impaired traffic-related fatalities at 5%. As you might expect, the greatest percentage occurred between midnight and 3 a.m. The percentages remained very consistent between 2000 and 2009.

Given that, we would advocate for sensible closing times for bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.

The Arlington Heights village board this week took a straw poll on whether restaurants and other businesses that have been allowed to serve alcohol as early as 8 a.m. Monday through Saturday may also do the same on Sundays.

To date, they must wait until 10 or 11 a.m. to serve Bloody Marys and mimosas, and there are places in Arlington Heights that do a brisk brunch business.

"I think it's kind of an evolution that we're seeing," Trustee John Scaletta said. "What's the difference between Monday through Saturday, and Sunday?"

Good question.

Given that you can start purchasing recreational marijuana in a variety of forms and flavors from the Nature's Care dispensary in Rolling Meadows, just behind Arlington Park racetrack beginning at 8 a.m. every day of the week, it seems we're holding on to some anachronistic laws on alcohol. By responding favorably to the business community's call for a change, Arlington Heights could really help its business community, too.