Antec
11-05-2008, 04:38 PM
Sweeny voters on Tuesday decided to allow sale of beer and wine for off-premise use and mixed beverages in restaurants, bringing an end to a ban that started in 1958.
Residents voted for the sale of beer in convenience stores and grocery stores by a vote of 1,191, or 62.9 percent, to 702, or 37.1 percent against. Mixed beverage sales for restaurants passed with 1,227 to 669, or 64.7 percent to 35.3 percent against.
A third proposition, for the legal sale of beer alone, also passed by a vote of 1,143 to 763, or 60 percent to 40 percent. All results remain unofficial until canvassed.
Sweeny Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sue Netherly had feared passing of the legal sale of beer would open the city to having bars, but Mayor Rodney Weems said that wasn’t the case.
“The City Council voted in our last meeting in September to prohibit the sale of on-premise consumption of beer,” Weems said.
The vote Tuesday puts the city on the same level as the rest of Brazoria County, where legal sales were approved in November.
Local business owner Dwain Stewart, of Stewart’s Food Store, said he plans to add alcoholic beverages to his store soon.
“It looks like through the voting that Sweeny made up its mind as to what it wants, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Stewart said.
He also said the added revenue will help the city.
“I think it’ll help Sweeny,” Stewart said. “I think it’ll help the revenues and help Sweeny do some of the things they wanted to do in the past financially and maybe put them on an even keel with the towns around them that’ve had it for a while.”
Despite her earlier reservations, Netherly said the news is great and she’s excited for what the sales could do for Sweeny.
“From my point of view, it opens up economic possibilities and I think it’s just one other way that the town is changing,” Netherly said. “It’s changing and that’s a wonderful thing. We need to change, of course, as every town needs to change.”
In November, when voters in the rest of the county took on the issue, Sweeny voters overwhelmingly approved a pair of countywide propositions allowing the sale of alcohol for off-premise use and the mixed beverages in restaurants in the now-disbanded JP Precinct 5. But a ruling by the Texas attorney general said the now-defunct precinct’s long-standing ban, passed in 1958, trumped the county vote.
Netherly said when people buy alcohol out of town, they sometimes buy groceries and other things with money that could be spent at home.
“We, as the chamber of commerce, are delighted that it passed,” Netherly said. “We’re thrilled, and I think it’s good for the city as a whole.”
Erin McKeon covers West of the Brazos communities for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0152.
Residents voted for the sale of beer in convenience stores and grocery stores by a vote of 1,191, or 62.9 percent, to 702, or 37.1 percent against. Mixed beverage sales for restaurants passed with 1,227 to 669, or 64.7 percent to 35.3 percent against.
A third proposition, for the legal sale of beer alone, also passed by a vote of 1,143 to 763, or 60 percent to 40 percent. All results remain unofficial until canvassed.
Sweeny Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sue Netherly had feared passing of the legal sale of beer would open the city to having bars, but Mayor Rodney Weems said that wasn’t the case.
“The City Council voted in our last meeting in September to prohibit the sale of on-premise consumption of beer,” Weems said.
The vote Tuesday puts the city on the same level as the rest of Brazoria County, where legal sales were approved in November.
Local business owner Dwain Stewart, of Stewart’s Food Store, said he plans to add alcoholic beverages to his store soon.
“It looks like through the voting that Sweeny made up its mind as to what it wants, so that’s what we’re going to do,” Stewart said.
He also said the added revenue will help the city.
“I think it’ll help Sweeny,” Stewart said. “I think it’ll help the revenues and help Sweeny do some of the things they wanted to do in the past financially and maybe put them on an even keel with the towns around them that’ve had it for a while.”
Despite her earlier reservations, Netherly said the news is great and she’s excited for what the sales could do for Sweeny.
“From my point of view, it opens up economic possibilities and I think it’s just one other way that the town is changing,” Netherly said. “It’s changing and that’s a wonderful thing. We need to change, of course, as every town needs to change.”
In November, when voters in the rest of the county took on the issue, Sweeny voters overwhelmingly approved a pair of countywide propositions allowing the sale of alcohol for off-premise use and the mixed beverages in restaurants in the now-disbanded JP Precinct 5. But a ruling by the Texas attorney general said the now-defunct precinct’s long-standing ban, passed in 1958, trumped the county vote.
Netherly said when people buy alcohol out of town, they sometimes buy groceries and other things with money that could be spent at home.
“We, as the chamber of commerce, are delighted that it passed,” Netherly said. “We’re thrilled, and I think it’s good for the city as a whole.”
Erin McKeon covers West of the Brazos communities for The Facts. Contact her at (979) 237-0152.