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OKLAHOMA CITY — Broad revision of the state’s alcohol laws were kept alive in the Oklahoma Legislature on Thursday with a vote in the House of Representatives.

The House voted to advance Senate Joint Resolution 68, a proposed constitutional amendment that would be necessary to change the way beer and wine are sold in Oklahoma, but only after a passionate and ultimately controversial discussion and debate.

State Rep. Todd Russ, R-Cordell, was in the midst of an emotional argument against the resolution when he suggested that blacks and American Indians should join him in opposition because they have a history of alcohol-related trouble.

Russ, perhaps the Legislature’s most ardent dry, moved the chamber with a story of a close family member who was killed in an alcohol-related automobile crash, but then he angered a significant portion by declaring that whites had exploited Indians “at the rim of the alcohol bottle.”

Russ then suggested that the African American Caucus should also oppose the resolution because of alcohol-related problems.