I know I've written about alcohol sales in Texas before, but I am going to do it again.

Texas, unlike California or New York, has some really backwards laws regarding alcohol and what you can do with it, and when and where.

For example, one cannot, even in the 21st century, buy hard alcohol on Sunday in Texas. At least not in a liquor store, I don't know about restaurants, as I rarely ever drink outside the home. Larger liquor vendors build beer and wine stores adjacent to "real" liquor stores so that they can close the liquor part on Sunday and continue to sell beer and wine. If Christmas falls on a Sunday, one cannot buy hard alcohol on the Monday following.

Anna, Texas is a small town in the far northeast reaches of Dallas. It is a nice place, something I've learned since they started to sell liquor.

Anna has new subdivisions, and many rural properties. There are historic businesses, and new stores appearing, like an auto parts chain and a new dollar store. Most of the town is set well off 75, a four lane highway that runs from Dallas to Oklahoma.

So less than two years ago, the town narrowly voted in hard alcohol sales. I didn't learn this by reading it in a newspaper, or by seeing it on television. I didn't see a liquor store ad. Anna didn't have a reputation for alcohol sales, and I would venture a guess that most of the county's residents have no clue.

How did I learn about Anna's "sordid" side then? A friend who lives out that way told me.

So now, we drive up to Anna from McKinney, instead of all the way across Collin County to Denton County. We buy some liquor, maybe eat out in Anna while we are there. They have a rare (for Texas, anyway) Carl's Jr. and we love to eat there. If you go, it is exit 49, and try the jalapeño burger, or if you really want a treat, a Six Dollar Burger (which is actually four dollars and change).

Now, I go up to Anna, and I explore the town. I always thought it was just a Podunk town with an offramp and two truck stops. The Love's Truck Stop has just about everything you could ever need. Plus there's that damned Carl's Jr. that beckons.

When I go up to Anna, I might buy a bottle of alcohol, and drive right back to McKinney, leaving little trace that I had even been there. Another time, I might eat there in Anna, or we might eat there as a family, or I might take something home to eat. I might go for a drive through the countryside looking for small cemeteries where I might take pictures of headstones for a genealogy website for which I volunteer. I consider what it might be like to live out there.

Regardless, I always leave a little something behind: My sales tax dollars.

If I buy a bottle of booze, I leave some sales tax and support the local business.

If I eat at Carl's Jr., or any other restaurant, I leave some sales tax and support the local business.

If I buy a home out there, I'll pay some property taxes and some sales tax.

If in the upcoming election, the prohibitionists outlaw alcohol sales, I will never spend another dime in Anna, Texas. Except perhaps at the Carl's Jr.

The prohibitionists? Yep, 21st century prohibitionists.

Although the liquor stores in Anna are on the frontage road to the highway, and the stores close at 9:00 p.m., and these are beautiful, clean, service-oriented stores with expensive wines and pricey, quality liquors, and the crime rate has not increased in Anna, and there have been ZERO DWIs, and the property values are rising, and the sales tax dollars have increased with only ONE liquor store (and more to follow, one opening tomorrow), the prohibitionists want to vote alcohol sales out of Anna, TX.

We'll find out what happens soon.

I guess if they outlaw the liquor sales, they'll win. Big. They'll show us. They'll run the "riff raff" like us out of town. The ~40-somethings with nice cars, nice incomes, and nice homes. Yes, run us off. And we will give our money back to The Colony, or Addison, or now, Little Elm.

And while we are out spending our money, we will eat in restaurants, buy gas and groceries, and consider living "there", which won't be Anna, TX.