DeSoto voters split two spirits decisions

by Daphne Brown of DeSoto TODAY

All of the elections specified that at least 51 percent of the businesses' sales must be in food.

DeSoto voters, defeating one of two local decisions before them, approved on-site liquor sales to those businesses already authorized to sale mixed beverages.

With more than 5,000 of the city's registered 28,936 voters, 53.87 percent (or 2,743) of those voting said no to proposition 1, the sale of beer and wine within the city limits. Almost 400 more voters cast ballots against the decision than for. In favor votes totaled 46.13 percent or 2,349 votes.

Fourteen more people voted in the first proposition than the second - 5,092 to 5,078.

In the second proposition, DeSoto voters agreed to allow business owners to sale mixed beverages to those who previously held a Food and Beverage (FAB) certificate. The vote breakdown was 62.54 percent or 3,176 votes for the measure to 37.46 percent or 1,902 votes against.

Sonja Pendergast, enforcement division lieutenant for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, said DeSoto business owners who had FAB certificates or private club permits, allowing them only to sell alcohol to their members, must apply for a mixed beverage permit.

“The original application process, generally speaking, takes six to eight weeks,” Pendergast, who has worked for TABC for 22 years, said. “When there is an election, the process could take longer.”

All of the elections specified that at least 51 percent of the businesses' sales must be in food.

“The voters didn't mind alcohol sales in restaurants, they just didn't want a bar setting.

“They wanted the primary business to be food service,” Pendergast said.

DeSoto was one of four Dallas County cities considering some form of beer and wine or liquor sales. Cockrell Hill was considering off-premises consumption only, while Duncanville passed its mixed beverage initiative eliminating the need for a unicard to order drinks. DeSoto and Mesquite voters, considering the same two issues, had similar outcomes. Both voted down beer and wine sales in the city and passed mixed beverages.

Voters in Dallas County also joined those in Collin, Denton and Ellis counties on similar decisions. Midlothian passed both beer and wine sales in the city and eliminated the use of unicards in restaurants, Pendergast said.

Those interested in putting together petitions for similar beer and wine and liquor sales must wait a year for the same type of election.

Pendergast, who has worked in cities as large as Dallas, Fort Worth and Houston and as small as Victoria, said a lot of times the commission sees cities trying to go wet to draw the big-name stores, similar to what Lancaster has attempted.

“Everybody has a fear of the unknown,” she said.