Kyle City Limits
by BRENDA STEWART
Oh for chrissakes. As if we didn’t have enough politicians attempting to enact laws which dictate, restrict and insult every Texan’s personal liberty and intelligence (think mandatory sonogramming, to name just the most recent affront), we now have private citizens muscling lawmakers into continuing to prescribe our shopping habits.
Am I the only one who feels as if we’re getting poked coming and going? Do these folks honestly think we’re so imbecilic as to be unable to navigate civil society without their intervention? It’s a given that most elected officials have already sold their souls in their endeavor to secure their place of influence. But local business owners? That’s me and you. It made me wince.
Okay, the backstory. Seems the owner of a local business has vocally opposed the repeal of a 50-year-old state law enacted to take away the rights of business owners to determine their own hours of operation. Originally these asinine “Blue Laws” were rammed down the throats of Texans by politicians pandering to the religious right (sound familiar?) to enforce Christian mandates on the general public in 1961.
In an attempt to ensure that we simpletons made the correct choices about how to spend their Sabbath, most businesses were forced to close on Sunday or to substantially limit what wares were legally available for purchase. These dastardly items included pots and pans and washing machines. The law was so convoluted that you could buy disposable diapers but not cloth, a bottle of beer but not a baby bottle, a screwdriver or hammer but not nails or screws. There seemed to be little method to the madness.
Mercifully, in 1985, Texas officially abolished the antiquated “Blue Laws”, although a couple of quirky vestiges remain. One, Texas car dealers can operate Monday through Friday with carte blanche but can only peddle those shiny new roadsters (along with their special deal just for you, pretty lady) on either Saturday or Sunday of any given weekend, not both, by law. There’s no rhyme or reason.
And then you have those pesky liquor stores throughout the lone star, forbidden to open their doors on any given Sunday. Like you can’t get drunk and destructive on beer and wine from HEB and Sac n Pac on the Lord’s Day? I don’t get it.
Enter David Jabour, president of the Twin Liquors chain. Evidently he felt that his six-day workweek ethic was being threatened when the Legislative Budget Board tapped Sunday liquor sales as a possible revenue source to counteract the state’s astronomical budget deficit. As far as Jabour is concerned, sales will be slow on Sundays and it would not be cost-effective for his stores to be open for business.
Sounds reasonable enough. There are thousands of retail outlets across the state that choose to take a day off to save on overhead and salaries on less-trafficked days. The kicker? Jabour wants the state to continue to force neighboring liquor stores to shutter their doors every Sunday so that he won’t have competition if he chooses not to open his on that particular day. How convenient.
So after 50 years of living with these hickoid laws insulting our intelligence and free will we finally have a real shot at getting them erased from our books once and for all. And then you have Jabour, taking a page from Perry’s playbook, attempting to limit the choices of Texans throughout the state. Once again, arrogant and audacious.
