Moon-Shriner busted in SC temple parking lot

Rumor has it that "you can get anything you want" in the parking lot of the Omar Shrine Temple on Patriots Point Road in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.

A pair of undercover cops scored two jars of "apple pie" on March 15 after receiving a tip there were illegal alcohol sales going on at an outdoor party at the Temple, the Charleston Post and Courier reported on March 26.

Apple Pie is the name 73-year old Bro. C.A. Gatlin, a longtime Shriner serving as master of ceremonies for the annual St. Patrick's Day Hillbilly Clan No. 82 celebration, calls his concoction of grain alcohol boiled with apple cider, apple juice, brown sugar and cinnamon sticks, police said.

Bro. Gatlin and his 55-year old girlfriend were arrested and have been charged with illegal sales of a legal liquor. Three more jars of the brown liquid were seized by police from a cooler at the party, and 58 more jars were found in the couple's home.

Bro. Verle Bohrn, Recorder for the Omar Temple, said Bro. Gatlin had been a Shriner for at least 30 years. He said the Apple Pie sales likely won't affect Bro. Gatlin's status, though "he might get a slap on the wrist a little bit, but that's about it."

Police also arrested five people in the parking lot for marijuana possession after seeing them smoking the illicit weed. One of the arrestees was also in possession of illegal mushrooms.

Bro. Bohrn was quick to point out that the potheads weren't members of the Shrine, saying — of course — that the Omar Shrine Temple doesn't condone that type of behavior.

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