What's Next: Little River County and Texarkana must face questions on expanded alcohol sales

Cities across Bowie County have been voting to allow retail beer and wine sales. And that has cut into the longstanding monopoly on alcohol that Texarkana, Ark., has enjoyed for so long.
No longer do area Texans have to drive across the state line for beer or wine. Nor, since Sunday sales of both are legal in Texarkana, Texas, do they have to plan ahead and stock up by Saturday to enjoy a cold one after church or during NFL games.
Indeed, some Arkansas residents now travel west if they fail to buy enough before Sunday.
Now it looks like the Arkansas-side could face even more competition. This time from within the state.
A group in Little River County is pushing for retail beer and wine sales there. Vote For Growth in Little River County is collecting signatures to put the matter before voters in November. They need 2,655 folks to sign on the line and they are just about 400 shy of that goal.
Retail giant Walmart and the E-Z Mart convenience store chain are big contributors to the petition drive. That just makes sense as they would be big beneficiaries of legal beer and wine sales.
Proponents say this is all about economic impact. And it's true, beer and wine bring in both profit and sales-tax dollars.
But the bigger question-one that Ashdown and other Little River County residents still have the option to consider-is whether money should be the main concern. Will beer and wine sales add to or detract from the community and county?
Now is the time to decide. Because once beer and wine sales are voted in,
it will be pretty near impossible to vote them out.
Of course, here in Texarkana money is the main concern in the alcohol game. We have had alcohol sales since the end of Prohibition. It's been a lucrative franchise. And the city appreciates the sales-tax revenue, too.
Beer and wine are no longer exclusive to the Arkansas side and may well become even less exclusive, but right now the package stores still have a monopoly on hard liquor.
So while Little River County residents ask themselves whether beer and wine sales would be a plus or minus, Texarkana, Ark., package store owners and city officials need to ask themselves what happens when the monopoly on hard liquor goes out the window-and whether they have a plan in place for when that time comes.

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