Mormon church, state and alcohol laws to mix in federal courtroom

"A wetter environment means more DUIs, more underage drinking and more social costs from alcohol," he said.

Ken Wynn, a hospitality association board member and former DABC executive director, wants to see those numbers.

"They don't have the statistics to support that," he said. "They just spew that out of their mouths and everybody takes it as fact."

Valentine conceded many of the oft-cited studies were done nationally, not locally. He co-sponsored a bill this past legislative session that calls for the Utah Department of Public Safety to collect data about overconsumption, overserving, underage drinking, DUI rates and alcohol-related abuse.

"Where do you think they got that idea from?" Marcy said. "It's never been brought up before but it's brought up now because we throw it in the lawsuit. They need to have that in there because they were on the hook for that."

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