Texas Booze News

There are a lot of stories regarding alcohol in the news lately. Let’s take a fast tour around the state and see what’s up.

A petition was passed around Texarkana not too long ago, to try and get beer and wine sold within their city limits. And now, Athens, Texas just took a vote and the same sort of measure passed in May, 2011. Over in Corsicana, a measure was passed in early June 2011 extending the closing times for bars and restaurants to 2 a.m. seven nights per week. It seems that those who have felt restricted have been busy seeking change.

No doubt they’ve been looking at other cities and saying, “Hey, how come they get to stay open longer than we do?” and “It’s stupid that we can’t make money off of selling booze here in our own town – why should the next town get all the revenue? And why should I have to drive so far just to get a beer?”

One wonders if they also took a look at the other side of the story. Is it possible that the cities with the alcohol stores have higher rates of DUI’s or more of the many other problems associated with drinking? Is it possible that some towns may have preferred to encourage their people to get themselves home and get a decent night’s sleep so that they could be useful at their jobs or with their children the next morning – rather than making it possible for them to stay out until after 2 a.m.?

Oh, but that’s over regulation. The government is infringing on someone’s right to stay out and drink until 2 a.m. specifically, seven nights per week, and isn’t that the freedom that the founding fathers fought for?

Over at Texas State a girl died after jumping out of her dormitory window to the ground 12 feet below. Her friend hurt her back and another friend, who had supplied the liquor that influenced them to do such a crazy thing in the first place, was unharmed.

Sometimes it’s hard to understand why some cities are fighting to have what is harming the other cities.