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WEDNESDAY, MAR. 24, 1976
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^.1 Til vote for prohibition as long as I can stagger to the polls’
Drinking in Dallas
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Associated Press
GRAND PRAIRIE — Warning: This article could drive you
to drink!
That is, of course, if you live or visit in the Dallas-Fort Worth
metroplex and are inclined toward exotic beverages from time to
time.
The problem is the crazy-quilt laws governing the sale of
alcoholic beverages in the metroplex, the most heavily popu
lated area of Texas.
Seeking quick, easy answers, a visitor called upon the local
office of the state regulatory agency, the Alcoholic Beverage
Commission. There he discovered this sign:
“There is no reason for it . . . it’s just our policy.
Among other discoveries:
— The Dallas-Fort Worth Airport came perilously near being
the world’s largest, driest airport.
— Texas Stadium, home of the Dallas Cowboys football club,
gambled and lost that Irving would legalize the sale of alcoholic
beverages.
— A motorist traveling between Dallas and Fort Worth might
encounter virtually every wet, dry, booze, beer, wine and
mixed drink combo imaginable.
— Drinking curfews vary from city to city, precinct to pre
cinct.
— A dancer on Grand Prairie’s infamous “strip” is “so big,
she’d make a tidal wave on a water bed.”
But back to the dilemma.
Because of so-called “local option” elections, cities, counties,
justice precincts and incorporated cardboard communities can
set their own drinking statutes.
The basic options include the sale ot beer, wine or liquor — or
all three — for on or off premise consumption, or they can scrap
’em all.
For instance, in large sections of Dallas and Fort Worth
tipplers can purchase mixed drinks in clubs, hotels and restaur
ants. If they prefer to drink in private, they can buy the beverage
of their choice at a package store.
Leaving Fort Worth a motorist finds in Arlington that he can
drink freely at any club but can not purchase liquor by the
bottle. It is not uncommon to find just the opposite.
If the motorist takes a northern route, he’ll traverse a totally
dry area in Haltom City, find off-premise beer available in North
Richland Hills and uncover a private club — only situation
crossing a portion of Hurst.
Up toward Grapevine, D-FW Airport sprawls across both
Dallas County and Tarrant County. The Dallas side is dry. Tire
Fort Worth side is wet.
“All our terminals are in Tarrant County,” sighed an airport
spokesman. “Somehow or another, we got mixed drinks out
here. It was one of our major concerns — that the world’s largest
airport would be dry.”
If one pauses at the Cobra Club, presumably in Bedford, he
finds he can purchase a membership in the private establish
ment for $2 — and he gets a free drink.
Moving along toward Euless there’s the Fireside Inn, freely
and legally dispensing mixed beverages as one of the last water
ing holes before entering a rumhound s never-never land.
Then there is Irving. With a population of 115,310, Irving is
reputedly the largest totally dry city in Texas, a step ahead of
Abilene out west.
“The people here kinda agree with Will Rogers,” a city official
chuckled. “He said he’d vote for prohibition as long as he could
stagger to the polls.”
It is said that Dallas Cowboys executives expected Irving to
vote wet when the decision was made to erect Texas Stadium in
that Dallas suburb.
“Hell,” said the city official, “they didn’t get enough signa
tures on the petition to even call a liquor election.
The affluent imbibers thus watch the Cowboys on Sundays
from private boxes or the Cowboys’ private club.
Should one divert, meanwhile, into Grand Prairie, he finds
perhaps the wettest and driest portions of the metroplex. With
one notable exception, the city is dry except for an occasional
private club.
That one exception is the strip, a block-long monument to
revelry that lies just inside the Tarrant County line where Grand
Prairie bumps East Arlington.
A visitor is confronted with 10 choices: the Foolish Pleasure,
the Sadie Hawkins Club, Idle Hour, Golden Saddle, Branding
Iron, Sugar Shack, Silver Saddle, Deb’s, Love Bug or the End
Club.
That’s it.
There’s nothing else on the block. No restaurants, no nothing.
One can, however, cross the street and grab a beer and burger at
Gart’s.
And finally on to Dallas, something of an oasis itself, being
surrounded by such dry areas as Irving, Grand Prairie, DeSoto,
Lancaster, Richardson, Duncanville, Garland, Farmers Branch
and the vast Oak Cliff section.
Big D also is renowned for its silk stocking park cities —
Highland Park and University Park. The exclusive cities lie in
the heart of North Dallas’ bright lights. University Park is dry.
“We drink wet and vote dry,” quipped one resident.
Surges cause trouble
Drill rig harbor studied
Brown & Root, Inc. started a
multi-million dollar harbor along the
Corpus Christi ship canal in 1975 ex
pressly for building the huge off
shore drilling rigs.
Unfortunately, they inherited
some problems with the territory.
Large passing ships produced surges
of three to four feet in the harbor
while the maximum fluctuation al
lowable during the loading of a rig
onto the barges is one or two inches.
Any more movement could cause a
catastrophe and an expensive pile of
jiink.
Texas A&M University ocean en
gineers under the direction of Drs.
John B. Herbich and Jack Lou took
on the task of solving the loading
problems.
“The project was divided into two
major tasks,” Lou explained. “The
first concentrated on field investiga
tions and measurements, while the
second was devoted to laboratory
tests.
“A student worker was stationed at
the site for more than a month col
lecting information on tides, cur
rents, waves and surges, and ship
movement,” he said. “Two laborat
ory test series were also conducted
using wave generators and model
ships.
“We tried to see if there was any
way we could attenuate the oscilla
tions inside the barge slip harbor,”
Dr. Lou said. “Because of the long
time of the oscillations the conven
tional breakwater just doesn’t work.
“So, in order to study the problem
under controlled conditions and
evaluate various wave dampening
methods, the laboratory tests were
conducted for different types of slip
entrances,” he added. “Test results
revealed that partial blockage of the
entrance is not an effective means of
reducing the surge.”
Based on this study, three alterna
tives were recommended. These in
clude timing of barge loading opera
tions, complete blockage of slip entr
ance, and bottom pontoon support.
“The loading of the drilling rig
onto the barges could be scheduled
for a period when no large ships are
expected to pass,” Lou pointed out.
“However, information on ship pas
sage is not always correct. Ships have
arrived 15 minutes to 10 hours ahead
of the announced schedule. ”
Observations from the harbor can
only provide about 20 minutes warn
ing for inbound ships, less than what
is required to load the drilling rig.
“Complete blockage of the harbor
can be achieved, but tests indicate
forces due to water motion in the
channel would require great force to
hold the portable caisson in posi
tion,” he noted.
“The solution that is believed to be
failure-proof and most economical is
to support the loading barge by pon
toons sunk to the bottom of the har
bor,” Lou said. “After the off-loading
is completed, the barge and pon
toons can be floated by pumping out
the ballast.”
Keel blocks or hydraulic jacks on
the pontoons will account for varia
tions in barge depth.
INVENTORY CLEARANCE
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