Amid Controversy, City Places Alcohol Props on Ballot

TYLER — The Tyler City Council has called a special election for November 6 on a pair of alcohol propositions. One calls for beer & wine sales for off-premises consumption; the other is for extension of the legal sale of mixed beverages in restaurants to current city limits. A group called Buy Local First has been working to get the propositions on local ballots, largely by circulating petitions that the council validated yesterday morning.

A group called Stand Strong for Tyler opposes the effort. That group is calling for the city to stop what it terms the rush to place the beer and wine measure on the ballot in November. In a statement issued to KETK, the group says, in part, “After only 10 days of reviewing the petitions Stand Strong has identified serious problems including hundreds of duplicate signatures, the names of deceased individuals as signers and numerous other serious issues that will disqualify many signatures.” The group has asked for more time to review the petitions.
City spokesperson Susan Guthrie told KTBB, “Basically we did a very thorough review of the petitions and found that there was more than enough to warrant calling the election. State law outlines that we make this decision at the next meeting following completion if our review, which is what we have done.” She says once the city confirmed the counts, the law says the council “shall,” not “may,” call the election. The Smith County Commissioners Court must give the nod to similar propositions for the county’s Justice Precinct 2. Commissioners are slated to consider that at their meeting Tuesday