Laws take shots since prohibition
Wine Making
LAKE JACKSON ' Drew Ryder's two seafood restaurants sit 10 miles apart in the same county, but they are subject to vastly different liquor laws.
At On the River in Freeport, servers must simply check IDs to ensure everyone who imbibes in beer or mixed drinks is 21.
At River Point in Lake Jackson, customers who want to drink must become members of the restaurant's private club, a separate corporation with a separate bank account.
The manager must keep up with everyone's information and a membership committee must meet to vote on new members regularly. Ryder also pays an outside company to maintain the data.
'When people find out how much we have to go through just to maintain our records just to maintain our permit, they're flabbergasted,' Ryder said. 'Basically, it costs about $6,000 a year (more) for me to operate the mixed beverage permit in Lake Jackson than in Freeport.'
Since Prohibition ended more than 70 years ago, pockets of Brazoria County voters have gone to the polls to create a hodge-podge of liquor laws.
Freeport, for example, has been a totally 'wet' city since 1978, allowing liquor stores, wine sales in grocery stores and mixed drinks at restaurants.
By contrast, Sweeny has been completely 'dry' since 1958, when even the sale of beer was banned.
'Everything started out dry in each community,' said Carolyn Beck, spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. 'There are some counties that are entirely wet, but most are something in the middle.'
Across the state, there are 36 completely wet counties and 51 completely dry counties, Beck said. The remaining 167 are 'partially wet' or 'damp' counties, where some cities or judicial precincts have voted to allow some level of alcohol sales.
Brazoria County voters approved beer sales in 1933 at the same time they agreed to repeal Prohibition. Over the years, voters have loosened the liquor laws in Angleton, Freeport, Iowa Colony, Quintana, Surfside Beach and, most recently, Pearland.
But most cities are like Lake Jackson: still beer-only burgs where restaurants must obtain complex private club permits if they want to serve other types of alcohol to their customers.
'It is not uncommon in dry areas for places like that to establish private clubs,' Beck said. 'It was intended so that people could get together and serve alcohol to their members in a public place.'
Technically speaking, the clubs aren't supposed to sell drinks, but to serve alcohol that already belongs to the club and is being stored there.
'It's just a totally different animal than a bar or restaurant,' Beck said.
Richard Wood opened the Wurst Haus German restaurant in downtown Lake Jackson eight months ago with only a beer permit. After exploring the possibility of getting a private club permit so he also could serve wines, liquor and beer with higher alcohol content, he decided instead to try to change the permits available in Lake Jackson.
Last week, Wood launched a petition drive in hopes of triggering an election to allow the use of a mixed beverage restaurant permit for food and beverage certificate holders, a permit created by the state in 1999.
It would allow restaurants with less than 50 percent of gross receipts coming from alcohol sales to sell mixed drinks without the burdensome administrative work that goes along with having a private club.
'A restaurant is a restaurant; they're not a private club, come on,' Wood said. 'But they do it because that's the only way they can sell alcohol.'
Wood hopes his restaurant and others around town can gather 2,400 signatures of registered Lake Jackson voters by Tuesday in order to meet the first deadline on the way to getting on the November general election ballot. People can sign at Lake Jackson restaurants.
'We're feeling very good,' Wood said Friday. 'We're on our 50th signature right now and that's just after two or three days of doing it.'
The 2,400 signatures represent 35 percent of the number of voters who cast ballots in the last gubernatorial election. Registered voters must live within the Lake Jackson city limits for their signatures to count.
Changes in state law three years ago have made it easier for voters to force a local-option election to change liquor laws, Beck said. Petitioners have fewer signatures to gather ' they used to need 35 percent of all registered voters, period. They also have 60 days, instead of 30, to gather those signatures.
Elections are becoming so common that TABC has created a section on its Web page to try to keep track of the ballot initiatives.
'We've only gained one completely wet county since the law changed, but 11 completely dry counties have gone damp,' Beck said.
Plus, many communities that already allowed some alcohol have changed their rules.
In 2002, Pearland, the largest city in Brazoria County, successfully held the same type of election Wood is advocating. A similar vote already is set in West Columbia for this November.
According to TABC's Web site, communities have petitioned for a variety of local-option elections since 2003. Many are seeking the restaurant-only mixed beverage permit, but some are considering permits that would allow grocery stores to sell beer and wine or to allow sales of all types of alcohol. Wood said he considered broadening his petition.
'It crossed my mind, but I thought it's probably too big of a step at one time, and this right here is more realistic in terms of how permitting goes,' he said. 'If we were to put a petition together to allow wine in grocery stores that would be a whole separate permit and that might be something the grocery stores might want to go after. That would actually open up more alcohol availability than what this one would.'
Elections to only allow restaurants to serve mixed beverages are becoming more common around the state ' and they tend to be successful, Beck said.
'It's less of a threat, I think, to a lot of communities, the idea of having distilled spirits in a restaurant,' she said. '(In) a lot of communities, what they don't want is they don't want bars. That (permit) doesn't allow for bars, so it's easier to get that issue passed than it is if they tried to go for all alcoholic beverages.'
Lake Jackson restaurant owners point out that the proposed change effectively only would reduce the administrative hassle for restaurants and the inconvenience to customers who have to keep up with membership cards or give up their licenses for a few minutes when they order drinks.
'This is a tool that's already in place that would just make it easier for restaurateurs to operate their businesses ' and less expensive,' Ryder said. 'It doesn't change anybody's ability or inability to be able to provide alcohol with their menu.'
Ryder said he thinks the private club permit has become outdated and unnecessary.
'It doesn't benefit anyone that I can see,' he said. 'Running a restaurant is hard enough as it is without adding other steps.'
Jen Sansbury covers Lake Jackson for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0152.
County votes to ratify Prohibition, the 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
1933
County votes to repeal the 18th Amendment, amend the Texas Constitution to authorize the sale of beer and wine with alcohol content not exceeding 3.2 percent, and allow beer sales in Brazoria County.
1935
County votes to repeal statewide Prohibition, prohibit open saloons and allow for local-option elections.
1936
Voters reject legalizing the sale of all liquors in Brazoria County; beer sales still allowed. Voters reject amendment to give the state exclusive rights to sell liquor.
1937
Voters again reject legalizing the sale of all liquors; beer sales still allowed.
1947
Justice Precinct No. 6 votes against prohibiting the sale of beer.
Justice Precinct No. 8 votes against prohibiting the sale of beer.
1958
Voters in Justice Precinct 5, which includes Sweeny, ban the sale of beer. Sweeny becomes totally dry.
1967
Richwood voters ban the sale of beer. Richwood becomes totally dry.
1968
Richwood voters allow the sale of beer for off-premise consumption only.
1969
Bailey's Prairie voters reject the sale of all alcoholic beverages; beer sales still allowed.
1970
Clute voters reject the sale of all alcoholic beverages; beer sales still allowed. County votes to repeal the prohibition against open saloons.
1977
Angleton voters approve sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks. Angleton becomes totally wet.
1978
Surfside Beach and Freeport voters approve sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks. Surfside and Freeport become totally wet. Oyster Creek and Alvin voters reject a similar proposal; beer sales still allowed.
1979
Lake Jackson voters reject the sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed drinks; beer sales still allowed.
1982
Sweeny voters reject the sale of beer; remains dry. Justice Precinct No. 3 voters reject sale of all alcoholic beverages, including mixed beverages; beer sales still allowed.
1986
Bonney voters reject sale of all alcoholic beverages including mixed beverages; beer sales still allowed.
1992
Iowa Colony voters approve sale of all alcoholic beverages including mixed beverages; becomes totally wet.
1996
Quintana voters approve sale of beer and wine for both on- and off-premise consumption.
2002
Pearland voters approve sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders only.
2006
West Columbia voters to consider approving sale of mixed beverages in restaurants by food and beverage certificate holders only. Lake Jackson restaurants launch petition drive to get the issue on the ballot as well.
SOURCE: Brazoria County election office, Texas Legislative Council
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