Venable: Eye before eee! Accept after sea

-- You gotta love consistency, and the folks in Loudon County rarely fail to deliver.

Sppel, uh, speall, - wait a second; let me hit Spell Check; ah, yes, here it is - spelling always seems to pose a problem for them.

You may recall that, for years, an interstate mileage sign Down There told the distance to "Lenior" City. Eventually that gaffe was "fixed," but only by replacing the "o" with a zero - as in "Len0ir" City.

Last time I checked, someone had finally gotten it right: Lenoir City.

Thus, it was no surprise when I gazed at a photograph on the front page of the business section in Wednesday's News Sentinel and saw a giant sign announcing the future home of the county's first liquor store: "72 Wine and Spirts."

No, that doesn't mean there will be only 72 bottles of hooch in stock. The number refers to the store's location on Highway 72.

But "Spirts"?

Your guess is as good as mine. Perhaps that's the local pronunciation of "spirits" - although phonetic experts probably would prefer "spurts."

Yet let us not blame too harshly. This region has spelling problems from the get-go. The name of the county and the town are "Loudon." Yet the big TVA lake therein is "Loudoun."

Oh, and you also gotta love the fact that the guy who was awarded the first liquor license runs a wrecker service and body shop.

Talk about one-stop shopping!