Texas: a different train of thought

The great thing about summer is the fact that you have no responsibilities. Oh sure, you might have a job or something, but you always get to have a vacation or some time off to yourself to do whatever you want. Maybe hang out at home, or take a vacation somewhere. \nMy vacation this summer was to good ol' Dallas, or a suburb of it. A friend of mine from high school moved down there last summer, so I thought I would pay him a visit. \nI didn't get to see a whole lot of Texas, just the northern part of the state, which I drove through on my way down to Dallas. \nFrom what I saw, you need to stick to the cities in Texas, because the only other thing in the state is dirt. That, and the second-biggest canyon in America behind only the Grand Canyon. I didn't make it to that, though.\nAnyway, Texas people are certainly a little different from what I was used to. I'm a Northern boy, specifically a Chicago boy, born and bred there my whole life. And while Bloomington is a little farther south, it's still fairly northern. So Texas was a bit different. \nI know some people around here might have some narrow minds concerning Texas, considering it a state that's a little slow -- though I'm not sure where they would get that idea given our president is from Texas. (Insert joke here.)\nSomething I picked up from Texas while I was down there is that the state is unique in some of the things that the laws allow that are not allowed in any other state. For instance, the carrying of firearms and the absence of open-container laws. Unfortunately, as of last Friday, one of those unique traits that makes Texas Texas is no longer there. Last Friday, they outlawed open containers of alcohol in the car.\nThat's right, no longer can one consume that sweet, sweet nectar that is alcohol, or more specifically beer, while you are riding shotgun in your friend's pickup truck. Try to hold yourself together for a minute, I know that thought is hard to take.\nI'm not sure exactly what it was that swayed the members of the Texas legislature to change their minds when it comes to the open-container law. Was it the threat of losing federal highway construction dollars? Or maybe it was the fact that in 1999 there were 1,734 alcohol-related highway deaths, which accounted for about half of the total highway deaths in the state. Mind you, the national average of alcohol-related highway deaths was only 32 percent.\nDon't worry, though. Those true blue drinkers down there in Texas won't let that silly ol' $500 fine stop them from drinking. As 45-year-old Charles Demet, resident of Lubbock, told the Associated Press, "If people want to do it, they're going to do it regardless of the law," as he drove off with a 12-pack by his side.