I was in Florida in 1967 visiting a friend going to school in Tampa. Went out with two guys in his dorm for a fun night. One of them drove the other two of us to a building after dark. We drove to a parking lot in the back and lo and behold there was a beer vending machine. It was outdoors and stationed so people could drive up to it, stick in a quarter and a can of beer would pop out. Not exactly an enlightened part of the country. We bought several cans of beer of an unknown brand, but we were 19 and didn't care what brand, it was a beverage with alcohol in it. We got drunk and drove to the beach. Walked around barefoot in the warm Gulf water. When we tired of that we drove off to look for trouble. A Police officer stopped us and asked us if we had been drinking, we were laughing so hard that he started laughing. Then I asked him if he wanted us to walk the white line in the middle of the street. He laughingly said yes and we tried and failed. He told us to drive home very carefully and not go anywhere else. We drove straight back to the dorm very carefully and didn't go anywhere else. Nowadays we'd be spending the night in the clinker and facing a judge soon thereafter. Our driver would have been fined heavily hand had a drunk driving conviction on his record. It was a really different time. Oh, and we were all White. Something similar happened to me in Portland when I was 18. The officer asked me to follow him to my house on the way home from a drunken party. I did exactly what he asked me to do. Today, I'd be in jail with a record and out a pretty chunk of change.
Sounds about right.
