PINE MOUNTAIN, GA -- It started with a stink in the air. It ended with the discovery of an illegal moonshine still in rural Meriwether County, the seizure of illegal liquor and the arrest of its alleged proprietor.
Deputies had responded to "call for service" Saturday afternoon. Upon completion, they noticed what a press release described as "suspicious activity" near a propane facility. Behind a propane tank, they saw a camoflauge tent and chair.
Then came the stink.
As they checked the area, the spotted a 55 gallon drum, plus an assortment of buckets and jugs-- and the hardware of a moonshine still. The stink was the "fermented mash which is a bi-product of the moonshine making process," Sheriff Chuck Smith said in the news release.
A nearby trailer park yielded a man named Jerry Lee Tumlin, who allowed deputies to search his dwelling, according to the press release. Within it, they found a small quantity of marijuana and other moonshine paraphernalia. The press release says Tumlin gave a statement indicating that a batch of liquor had been cooked the previous night, and that 100 gallons of moonshine had recently been sold from the facility.
The search also yielded "sugar bags, wheat, corn, water tanks, piping, tubes, radiators, copper pipes, stainless steel containers and propane tanks," according to the press release. Tumlin, according to the press release, was charged with "Felony Unlawful Manufacturing of Distilled Spirits, Possession of Firearms by Convicted Felons and one misdemeanor count each of Unlawful Possession of Unstamped Distilled Spirits and Possession of Marijuana, less than an ounce."
Tumlin was booked into the Meriwether County jail and released on a $12,000.00 bond.
Although moonshine has come into vogue among some urban liquor conneisseurs, its illegal forebearer remains a stubborn problem in some parts of rural Georgia. The moonshine is illegal because it is unstamped and untaxed by the state Department of Revenue.
