“Five of Bowie County’s seven cities remain dry today, but the Texas side of Texarkana, with a population of some 36,000 people, voted in 2006 to allow the sale of alcohol in restaurants. Nash, a small town fifteen minutes west of Texarkana, is the real rebel. Last year, it became the first place in the county to allow the sale of beer and wine in convenience stores.”
Full Article on Texas Monthly
Locals Pastor Dave Seifert of Wake Village’s Twin Cities’ Baptist Temple, Liquor Store Owner E. N. Kim, and Hopkins Ice House co-owner George Dodson are interviewed in the article.
The article also goes into the politics behind the scenes of Texas alcohol election drives. The following is a paragraph from the article about John Hatch of Texas Petition Strategies.
If you’ve recently acquired the right to tipple in your town, you have Hatch to thank. A veteran of Texas Democratic politics who worked for Governor Ann Richards, Hatch found himself adrift when the party entered its long decline. One day in 1998, he was approached by a city council member in Buda, just south of Austin. The city wanted to lure H-E-B to town, but the store would need to sell beer and wine to make the numbers work. At the time, Buda was dry.
Read the full article on Texas Monthly.
