Bush pardons man for selling bootleg whiskey

CANON, Ga. -- A northeast Georgia man sentenced to two years in prison for selling bootleg whiskey more than 40 years ago was among 14 people granted pardons Wednesday by President Bush.

Rufus Edward Harris, of Canon in Franklin County, was convicted of possession of tax-unpaid whiskey and was sentenced to prison on June 17, 1963. Seven years later, on May 28, 1970, he was sentenced to five years in prison, which was later reduced to two years probation.

Harris requested the pardon about four years ago, his wife, Frankie, recalled.

"He just said he was so sorry that he had that on his record," said Frankie Harris, who cried when she heard the news. "He just wanted to clear his record before he died."

When nobody contacted them after a while, she said, Rufus Harris figured he'd been turned down for a pardon.

The 71-year-old former car and tractor salesman was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease about a year ago, his wife said. He cannot walk anymore or feed himself.

"I am so proud," Frankie Harris said. "He would be so happy. This would just make him so happy."

She said Rufus Harris sold moonshine with her brother, and that illegal whiskey was common in her small town.

"It was a lot of people here making whiskey in those times," Frankie Harris said.

Bush has issued 60 pardons and sentence commutations during 56 months in office.

Some pardons, like the one President Ford gave Richard Nixon in 1974, protect recipients from going to jail or reduce their sentences. But Bush has granted clemency mainly to allow people who committed relatively minor offenses and served their sentences long ago to clear their names.