Letter to the Editor

I would like to say how very disappointed I am, because our mayor, Bill Brown, cast the deciding vote to change the part of our city ordinance that prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages across the street from our primary school.

I understand that the delivery truck will park in the front of the Brookshire store, and carry the beer and wine in the front door so the children will not be exposed to seeing the beer and wine delivered. So, that makes it all right if we just sneak it in? Did the members of the city council that voted "yes" even think of the part of the population that does not want to shop where alcohol is being sold?

You deceive ourselves if you think that you are changing this ordinance for the tax money the sale of beer and wine will bring in. Brookshire's sales are off because we have lost people who had to move away when Temple Inland moved its main office to Austin and sold a large part, if not all, its holding in Diboll.

I am a Christian. I do not drink alcoholic beverages. I believe this is a moral issue. Alcohol is a drug as addictive, if not more so, than marijuana, heroin, or crack. We go to great lengths to protect our children from these drugs. So, why the laid-back attitude where alcohol is concerned?

I would like to thank God for men like Don Hendricks and Fred Mitchell, who took a stand against this evil.

Thank you for printing my letter.

Luddy Bowman [and 37 other signatures]