Posted 10/01/2006 03:35:00 PM by Douglas

For 42 counties in Texas, prohibition continues unabated. But for how long?

The vote comes as part of a wave of local-option elections that are steadily ''wetting up" the more populous parts of Texas. Lufkin's Baptist churches and others are mounting a campaign to keep their corner of East Texas dry, but trends are not on their side.

Since late 2003, when changes in state law made it easier to put alcohol on local ballots, there have been 177 elections across the state to legalize some form of alcohol sales. A lopsided 82 percent have passed, according to the Texas Alcohol and Beverage Commission.

Conversely, no wet areas have voted to go dry.

Today, only 42 of Texas' 254 counties are completely dry, fewer than half the number in 1975, when there were 87. And each year several more fall from the list. Located mostly in West Texas and the Panhandle, 28 of the state's dry counties have populations of fewer than 10,000.

I've never understood this. Dry counties keep alcohol away from its citizens about as well as the "Employees must wash hands" sign in the bathroom keeps feces out of your salad. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the counties with populations less than 10,000 aren't economically booming, so is it really in their best interest to let even more money leave their community when farmer Ted goes to the county line for a six-pack and a quart of whiskey? Or are they afraid that the roads might not be safe for all the people getting to and from their meth labs? Let's look at the downsides:

Alcohol opponents say going wet will have negative consequences.

"Studies show you have an increase in crime when you increase alcohol outlets," said Lee Miller, a Lufkin public relations expert running the opposition campaign.

Jack Williams, an opposition leader who said he got involved at the request of his pastor, said Lufkin has a thriving economy even without alcohol sales. "We don't need it," he said.

Sure you don't need it, but as it is now, you're getting all negatives with none of the additional revenue.

Opponents warn about crime and drunken driving, but with alcohol readily available "across the river" and more than 20 restaurants and social organizations serving drinks as private clubs, the Lufkin area already hosts its share of alcohol-related social ills. Over the first eight months of this year, 264 DWI cases were filed in Angelina County, records show.

The bootleggers and Baptists vote the same way on this issue.