SMITH COUNTY, Texas — November 2022 marks 10 years since retail beer and wine sales were legalized in Smith County.
In November 2012, Smith County voters approved the selling of beer and wine for off-premise consumption for the first time since 1940.
Shortly after, beer coolers and wine aisles showed up in grocery and convenience stores.
Scott Martinez, Tyler Economic Development Council president and CEO, said it's made a positive economic impact.
"I would say it has had an economic impact when you look at the availability and just the sales numbers that come from beer and wine," Martinez said. "If you look at, the impact from our perspective, it has been positive."
Prior to this, Smith County residents had to travel outside the county for alcohol or it was sold illegally from inside people's homes, according to the Smith County Sheriff's Office.
"People who might not have a car that could go down to a home in a neighborhood and buy beer or buy wine, some of them would sell hard liquor as well," said Sgt. Larry Christian, SCSO public information officer.
Christian said these alcohol bootlegging operations invited crime.
"It wasn't just limited to selling beer or alcohol, there was always something else, as well," he said. "Marijuana sales, drug sales, even fencing operations."
Christian said fencing operations involved people trading stolen goods for alcohol.
He said legalizing beer and wine within the county had an overnight impact on crime, specifically the bootlegging operations.
"Almost overnight, those bootlegging operations were gone," Christian said. "So, that had a very positive effect on that aspect of crime."
After submitting a request for motor vehicle traffic crash data from the years 2012 to 2022, the Texas Department of Transportation confirmed there have been more than 2,426 alcohol-related crashes in the last 10 years; 202 of those were fatal. One of which involved Smith County Dep. Lorenzo Bustos who was killed by a suspected drunk driver while on the job in the summer of 2022.
"We were still very heartbroken over the loss of Deputy Bustos, it was a tragedy," Christian said. "We're hoping that justice is served eventually in this case."
There have reportedly been eight victims of drunk driving in Smith County this year, and for Mothers Against Drunk Driving East Texas, eight is still too many lives lost.
"We want there to be no more victims," said Kathy Davidson, MADD ETX program specialist.
Davidson focuses on prevention education. She said she speaks to those of all ages.
"I was talking to middle school kids, and a couple of them had mentioned that they've had rides with parents who were impaired," Davidson said. "So, I try to give them ways on how to stay safe in that situation."
Davidson said if children have any other option, to take it.
MADD is a grassroots organization compiled of more than just mothers.
"We are moms or dads; we are people that don't have kids. We're just concerned people," Davidson said.
The SCSO believes the number of drunk-driving wrecks has decreased because people don't have to drive across county lines to buy most alcoholic products.
"If someone is going to drink, you're going to get it, one way or another, whether you drive across county lines or down to your neighborhood grocery store," Christian said.