LONGVIEW, Texas — Several veterans gathered Tuesday around the bar top counter at Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 4002 in Longview. Around them, a worker applied a sealant to the floor as part of a renovation project in advance of the post’s planned reopening this month.
“It’s been difficult,” bartender and volunteer Carrie Clark said of the past several months since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the post to close. “This is not just a bar — this is a place for our veterans.”
Gov. Greg Abbott’s order in June to shut down bars because of the pandemic also resulted in the closure of VFW halls across Texas. The mandate closed businesses that are licensed to sell alcohol for on-site consumption and that have alcohol sales that total more than half of overall sales.
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