Why are some post allowed to stay open and the rest are closed?
Lets start with; American Legion Posts are there to serve their community.
If it happens to have a canteen, it does so with a Liquor license from Arizona and is governed by Arizona, not the American Legion, except by the Post’s own By-Laws.
Therefore, a Post can be “Open” to fulfill its mission as long as it does so safely. This is especially true at this time of National emergency.
Being “Open” for the community to assist in times of need does not give it license to ignore governmental laws in its community.
It may seem to be open for its canteen but may instead be conducting its main mission.
In the current situation, Arizona bars, including private clubs with bars in them, were ordered closed by the Governor unless the location operates in an Arizona county that has no confirmed cases of COVID-19 infection.
Moreover, any function was further guided to limit access to not more than 10 people at one time, all of whom would be restricted from being closer than 6 feet apart from each other. One can see how challenging this would be for an American Legion Post trying to provide services, so many Posts simply shut down completely rather than risk liability for creating an unsafe environment.
These considerations likely guided the restriction of restaurants to convert to take-out/delivery models for their business – also allowing them to sell alcohol to go where normally they would not be able to.
Some Posts are functioning for food and their beverages to go, within this exception to laws.
Have you contacted the leadership of the Post you have a question about? Did you go inside to see if its running the bar? Government policing during this time may help to educate businesses including Posts during this time. A Post defying local laws is liable for its own conduct as their charter mandates them.
The American Legion Department of Arizona Club Committee is regularly apprised and will evaluate the information it has to evaluate its issued permission to hold a license under the name of The American Legion.
