ANGELINA COUNTY — The Country Club sits in an unincorporated area between Lufkin and Huntington on U.S. Highway 69. The nondescript white building is easy to miss if you’re not looking for it.

Inside, neon BudLight signs flash in the dark building. Lights hang over competition-grade pool tables. Spotlights brighten the stage. The smell of cigarettes permeates the air. Rows of liquor bottles behind the bar twinkle.

A small group of barflies gathered at The Country Club on a cold Tuesday afternoon. They were contractors and construction workers who could only do so much work after heavy rainfall made the ground muddy. So they warmed up with beers and a few shots.

There are very few places in the county where this is possible. And drinkers have to be members. One man drove 19 miles to The Country Club from his home in Zavalla — it’s the closest bar to him.

Angelina County is a partially wet county. You can buy beer and wine throughout the county, and some restaurants may sell liquor or mixed drink. The few bars, such as The Country Club, operate as private clubs, where individuals wanting to drink must have a membership. To buy a bottle of liquor, you have to cross one of two rivers that serve as the county’s boundary lines.

Bar owners want to change those laws. In November, a coalition began collecting signatures to trigger an election. If voters agree, bar owners would be allowed to advertise more widely, membership would no longer be required to drink at a bar, and liquor could be sold countywide.

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The change in those laws would only be for unincorporated areas of the county. Cities would maintain their own rules.

Following the end of prohibition, Texas left the issue of liquor sales up to individual jurisdictions rather than adopt a statewide stance. There are only three totally dry counties left in Texas: Roberts, Kent and Borden, located in the Panhandle and West Texas.

There are about 55 counties throughout the state that are considered completely wet, meaning you can purchase beer, wine or liquor at convenience stores, restaurants or bars. They don’t require a membership, and many other rules are less strict.

The laws in the rest of Texas vary depending on what county you’re in, and even what part of that county. For example, in Lufkin, the largest city in Angelina County, you can buy a can of beer or a bottle of wine from the local grocery store. In Burke, which is just a few miles south of Lufkin on Highway 59, you can’t.

The owners of Bubba T’s, a bar in Hudson, which is about 10 miles from The Country Club, launched the petition in November. Business owners across the county agreed to help, including fellow bars like The Country Club, Jim Ann’s Bar and the South First Bar & Grill.

“As a private club, we have more rules than any other open county or wet county clubs,” said Katie Self, manager of The Country Club. “We have to have memberships. Our customers are not allowed to go outside with open containers. We can’t have anything outside unless it’s fenced in. We’re taxed more on everything. And we don’t want to have to do that anymore.”

Bubba T’s owners declined to comment for the story.

Reducing restrictions could benefit the community in multiple ways, Self said. She is proud of the community that gathers at her bar. The bar hosts professional pool tournaments and community benefits. Regulars celebrate personal accomplishments. Customers, she said, look out for one another.

Changing the laws would allow more people to open local businesses and create more community spots like The Country Club. And it would reduce the distance people are driving to get liquor. Changing the law would also bring those sales tax dollars back into Angelina County, rather than one of the surrounding counties.

Sharon Kruk, executive director of The Coalition, a nonprofit focused on keeping local youth away from tobacco, drugs and alcohol, is not a fan of those arguments, she said. She worries that making alcohol more accessible for adults will mean more kids can get their hands on it, too.

“Is increasing access for kids to be able to buy alcohol worth the increase in tax revenue?” she asked.

Kim Bartel, the regional alliance coordinator at the Deep East Texas Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council, shares his concerns.

Reducing restrictions could lead more people to drink, and the county is not prepared to manage the potential impacts of that, Bartel said.

“I teach DWI repeat offenders class and I see how alcohol use damages so many people’s lives,” Bartel said. “To make it more accessible will just increase the broken relationships. It destroys families. It hurts the community as a whole.”

The coalition of bars has until Jan. 20 to collect about 8,600 signatures from registered Angelina County voters — 35% of the total number of votes cast in the 2022 gubernatorial election. If they are successful, voters would have the final say during the May election.

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