Alcohol Option For Restaurants Could Go Before Wills Point Voters In May

With beer and wine now available in stores in Wills Point, restaurants could represent the next step in what has become a major change for the town.

Late last week, Lone Star Grill owner Dean Ouimet said he has obtained an application for a petition for another local option election in May 2010. This time, it concerns a proposal to allow mixed beverage sales by food and beverage certificate holders.

Ouimet said he made the decision to pursue a local option election after many patrons in his restaurant indicated they would like to be able to order beer or wine with their food.

"At first, I looked into applying for a private club license, but after looking at the rigors involved with that process, I realized it would not work for the restaurant," he said.

"The private club license was more or less designed for country clubs. You have to have a membership, elect officers and the membership owns the alcohol," Ouimet explained.

The application for petition requires 10 signatures of registered voters. Once that is turned in to the Van Zandt County Clerk, the full petition form will be provided.

Supporters then have 60 days to gain a number of registered voters’ signatures equal to 35 percent of the number who voted in the last gubernatorial election.

Ouimet said he gave the situation much thought before going ahead with the petition process, but he added that he could not ignore what has been going on in the area.

"There is a lot of competition around me doing this (selling alcoholic beverages)….I felt like I had to do something to try and level the playing field," he said.

Ouimet said if an election is set and the option is approved, he would opt for selling only beer and wine products at Lone Star Grill. However, the measure would allow restaurants in Wills Point to keep a full bar, including liquors, if the respective owner desired.

In May, Wills Point voters approved beer and wine sales for off-premise consumption by an almost 2-to-1 margin.

While restaurants in nearby Terrell and West Tawakoni have offered alcoholic beverages for many years, the ante has been upped recently.

Emory voters approved alcoholic beverage sales in restaurants in May and the same proposal is set for November 3 in Van Zandt County Justice of the Peace Precinct 1 — that includes Grand Saline and Edgewood — as well as in Quinlan.

In addition, Papadale’s Grill and Cantina locations in Grand Saline and Canton put two more competitors with alcoholic beverages within 20 miles of Wills Point.

Ouimet did say that some Lone Star Grill patrons had indicated they were opposed to alcohol sales in restaurants.

However, Ouimet said he thinks the numbers in the May local option election in Wills Point seem favorable.

"Based on the previous election we had here, it is a pretty good indicator that this is the right time to open it up to restaurants," he said.

Ronnie Hunt, one of the leaders of the proponents for alcohol sales earlier this year, said he does not plan to get involved with another local option election, but said he would be in favor of it.

Hunt said he already sees a positive impact on the town since alcohol sales began in earnest in late June.

"We’ve already seen some improvement here, in my mind," he said. "You can already tell, especially in the afternoons, people stop at our stores coming through town, especially on Saturday and past 5 p.m. We are also seeing new (business) activity in town."