Defeat Of Alcohol Options May Not Bring End To Issue

Van Zandt County Precinct 1 voters stemmed a growing tide of local option election passages by turning down three alcohol sales propositions Tuesday.

Opponents to alcohol sales termed it a decisive victory in keeping the county — save for the city of Wills Point — dry.

"I think it sent a message that people in Van Zandt County want the quality of life we have here to stay at a premium," said Danny Eason, president of Concerned Citizens of Van Zandt County.

However, Eason and others opposed to legalized alcohol sales in the county say Tuesday’s result may only have been victory for one battle in a long, ongoing political and socioeconomic war.

"One of the reasons I think we’ve seen growth in our population is from people who came here to get away from that (alcohol sales) and they want to keep it that way," Eason said. "This result was an awesome statement to that effect.

"But as for what happens next, I really don’t know," he added. "I don’t know what is going to happen in another precinct or independently in one of the cities."

Van Zandt County Republican Party Chairman Lance Lenz said he was pleased with the defeat of the local options but admitted, "I’m a little shocked that all three of them went down."

"It certainly says that residents of Van Zandt County are concerned about alcohol, and that is what I expected," Lenz said in reference to the more than 2,400 voters in the decision.

Of the three on the ballot, the option for mixed beverage sales for on-premise consumption in restaurants turned out to be the tightest total, failing 1,335 to 1,097.

The option for beer and wine sales for off-premise consumption failed by a 59 percent majority, 1,442 to 1,001. The option for all alcoholic beverages for off-premise consumption (full package stores) was soundly defeated by more than 500 votes, 1,476 to 943.

"What it tells me is the citizens of Van Zandt County are still not ready for a wet precinct or for some large portion of the county to be wet," Lenz said.

However, he added that he believes more local option elections are on the way in 2010 and beyond.

"I worry about the alcohol and liquor lobby taking an interest in these numbers. The restaurant option came the closest to making it in and if those lobbies get involved in promoting it, something like this could pass next time," Lenz said.

The local options defeated on Tuesdays’ ballot cannot be brought back for a Precinct 1 election for at least one year, according to the Texas Election Code.

However, there are seven other alcohol sales options that could go through a petition process before that time expires. In addition, any of the state’s alcohol sales options — including the three that were turned down in Precinct 1 — are eligible to be brought before voters within any of the cities in Precinct 1.

A look at individual box counts from Tuesday’s vote could offer a glimpse of one possibility.

The only instance of any of the three local options gaining more "for" votes than "against" was with the restaurant option in Box 6, which is the city of Grand Saline.

Had it been a citywide election only, the restaurant proposition would have passed by a 525-515 margin according to the unofficial results.

Grand Saline currently has one restaurant, Papadale’s Grill and Cantina, which sells alcoholic beverages through a private club license.

Van Zandt County Precinct 1 was not the only city or area to reject alcohol sales on Tuesday. Local option elections in Quinlan and Wolfe City, both in neighboring Hunt County, failed by slim margins. Alcohol sales propositions for Mt. Pleasant also failed.

However, the city of Pittsburg approved beverage sales in restaurants. A beer and wine sales option for off-premise consumption failed in that same election.

The court-ordered re-vote in Winona, in neighboring Smith County, for all alcoholic beverage sales passed.

For Eason and other opponents of alcohol sales in Van Zandt County, the time to celebrate victory could be short.

"I would hope the statement made in this election will keep the issue from coming back up, but if it doesn’t, we will be ready to go at it again," Eason said.