Brownsboro must call a local-option election for May after 55 signatures on Dusty Wise’s petition to legalize alcohol sales were verified by Henderson County elections administrator Denise Hernandez.

“I’m excited about this,” Wise said. “But I’m ready to get it over with. We’ll see what the voters want.”

A successful election would allow Wise, the owner of Y’s Hometown Foods, to sell beer, wine and liquor for off-premises consumption. It would also allow other stores to do the same inside the Brownsboro city limits.

But Wise said he’s not sure whether he’ll sale alcohol at his store.

“I doubt I’ll sell it here, because I just don’t know where I’d put it. But other people can come in and do it at some of these empty buildings in town.”

Should Wise eventually decide to make room for it, he’d have to apply for a liquor license from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission — as would any other store wanting to sell alcohol in a wet municipality, precinct, or county.

Even then, state law allows municipal governing bodies to prohibit the sale of alcohol within 300 feet of a public or private school, church, or childcare center. The restriction may reach 1,000 feet if municipal governing bodies request boards of trustees of school districts to set the regulation.

In Brownsboro, for example, Y’s is within a block of a day-care center and within two blocks of Brownsboro Junior High School. Kidd Jones, at the intersection of State Highway 31 and Farm-to-Market Road 314, is within feet of Hwy 31 Church of Christ. Food- Fast Holdings, just west of Y’s, is within walking distance of Brownsboro Junior High School and Brownsboro Elementary School.

Wise has said he filed for a petition only after several Brownsboro supporters asked him to do so, because the city desperately needs more sales-tax revenue. He has rejected claims by alcohol opponents that making Brownsboro wet would increase crime and vehicular accidents and lead to more underage drinking.

The city’s sales-tax revenue was just over $126,000 in 2009, according to state figures.

Wise, a Brownsboro Independent School District trustee, has owned Y’s for more than 18 years. He’s also a board member for the Brownsboro Economic Development Corporation.

Fifty-one signatures were required on Wise’s petition. The election is expected to be set for May 8, and state law requires the Brownsboro City Council to post a notice at City Hall on or before the 21st day before the election.

Forty-two counties in the state were classified as “completely wet” last November, according to the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

Thirty were classfied as “completely dry.” The others, including Smith and Van Zandt counties, are partially wet.

For more on local-option liquor elections, visit sos.state.tx.us. The Texas ABC’s Web site is tabc. state.tx.us.