Satanta ? You can get a six-pack to go in Satanta, but if you’re hankering for a bottle of wine to serve with your meal, or hard liquor for a cocktail, you’ll have to get out of town.

The far western Kansas community of 1,600 is one of only a few in the state that still prohibits the sale of packaged liquor, something John Keener would like to change. He drew up a petition to allow liquor to be sold in town, and almost single-handedly gathered the 110 signatures needed to put the question on the Nov. 2 ballot.

While people can buy beer locally at a grocery, convenience store or tavern, if they want liquor or wine they have to make a 30-mile round trip to Copeland, or a 60-mile round trip to Ulysses, Liberal or Hugoton.

“I think we need a liquor store just to keep that revenue from draining out of the county,” said Keener, a retired co-op manager who has given some thought to opening a liquor store himself.

Keener said that while he hasn’t heard any strong opposition to his proposal, there also hasn’t been anyone so much in favor that they’ve “jumped right at it.”

It’s been a hot issue here in the past. City Clerk Charlotte Liebelt said when it last came up about 10 years ago, it failed to pass by one vote.

“There’s talk about the problems that it brings to our county and also talk that it brings revenue,” Liebelt said. “We’ll see what happens.”

The Rev. Jeff Miller, pastor of the United Methodist Church, believes most Haskell County residents oppose the issue. His church serves nonalcoholic grape juice in its communion service.

“As a clergyman, I see alcohol as being a disruptor in the family and people’s lives,” he said. “The abuse that takes place, where alcohol is involved, is so much a part of the problem.”

Rick Lambert, Satanta’s mayor and also a member of the school board, said that no matter what the outcome of the vote, people who drink aren’t going to buy liquor locally because Satanta is “a little Bible Belt community.”

“They’re going to buy it somewhere else because they don’t want people to know they bought it,” Lambert said.

Haskell County Sheriff Larry Phoenix said he hopes there’s no change.

“Alcohol ruins families, takes down businesses and kills people,” Phoenix said. “I see no good reason for it.”