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Alcohol vote an issue of respect
By Joycina Baker
Contributor
Published November 2, 2009
The alcohol vote confronting the residents of Friendswood isn’t an issue of retaining the physical and material aspects and lifestyles of the Quaker settlement in 1895. Those have changed, dramatically, for the good. The issue is about retaining and respecting the moral and spiritual values that formed the foundation of a community. That community, the only permanent town in Texas that started as a Quaker colony, is today the envy of other communities and is a magnet for people looking for a wholesome place to rear their families.
The Quaker founders were living out their interpretation of the Bible when they placed emphasis on the worship of God, the excellent education of their youth, supporting a strong family life and providing a wholesome community life without the use of alcohol. Even though the makeup of the Quaker colony began to change in the 1930s, it retained the values the earlier settlers lived by.
In the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, as newcomers arrived, they wholeheartedly approved the values of the founders, even though many were not abstainers. However, in 1963, the newcomers — not the Quakers — brought the wet versus dry issue to a vote to try to ensure that the sale of alcohol didn’t encroach into the 2 square miles that composed the heart of the Quaker settlement. Their thinking was that although many newcomers did use alcohol in the home, the sale of alcohol within their town in no way enhanced it. Friendswood remained dry by a vote of 219 to 17 and ensured the continuing development of a wholesome distinctive community.
In 1967, other newcomers, led by a Catholic woman and a Baptist woman, made the community aware of how unique Friendswood is by doing the work necessary to petition the state for a historical marker. It was placed on the Friends Church grounds. It didn’t mark the church — it marked the Quaker beginning of the community. In 1970, other newcomers contributed money and effort to construct a replica of the first home in Friendswood to serve as a repository of artifacts and accounts of our beginning.
Since 1963, the number of non-abstainers has greatly increased; however, the community has been free of the sale of alcohol in its heart as a tribute or sign of respect to the founding policies of a most unusual town.
Today, 46 years later, developers and realtors who see dollar signs are proposing that we forget about respect. The sale of alcohol is legal in Friendswood’s other 19 square miles. They want the final 2 square miles.
How will you vote?
Joycina Baker lives in Friendswood.
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