Posted on 03/22/2006 4:32:35 PM PST by stacytec
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.
The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission's Carolyn Beck.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, Beck said.
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.
"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.
Nothing.
However, Texas Law defines "Public Intoxication" as being a danger to yourself or others.
It must be proven in a Jury Trial.
I got two parking tickets in Boston one week even though I had a parking permit displayed on the windshield of my truck
I contested them
They told me they couldn't overturn a parking violation but I could appeal it if I wanted
How much is the public intoxication in Irvine now?
$100.00 $500.00? x 30 for 1 night?
They have this political organization down there named the TABC - Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. It is a group of ploitically appointed goons - usualy the stupid nephew, ignorant brother-in-law and retarded sons & daughters of local county uppity ups who get a badge, a causual "uniform" and a big flashlight. They go into bars and harrass people who just happen to be drinking...in the bar.
They have no power or authority inside the bar, thats private property. But they always ask their victim to please "Just step outside so we can be sure that you are OK" Once outside, they roust, cuff and call the waiting local PD car to come over and take the person to jail. There the charges, or no charges if you don't blow a violation, are made.
Pure political BS. Nothing more than legallized extortion. They split revenues with the local PD and keep the balance to fund their local office.
Answer is...Refuse to go outside with them. They cannot force you to do so. NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY. Their mandate only covers public areas.
Its a damn shame that the people of the fine state of Texas allow this to go on.
I have an interesting story or two about these gooners and their meeting several armed and non-co-operative DEA folks.
AKA...Tater Salad...
Dunno. I gave up on Tom Cruise movies after he made that gay Top Gun
What a maroon. Ever heard of breathalyzer checkpoints outside bars? Works wonders in my neck of the woods.
My parents and I left Soviet Russia in 1980 to get away from crap like this. The problem there - as it is here - is not the drunks (and everyone knows there's plenty of drunks in Russia), but nanny-state JBTs. I guess Texas is a "red" state in more ways than one.
How can they compel a BAC test if the subject was not driving? Does Texas have an "implied consent" law for non-drivers?
This was done in Houston in the 80s. At that time they arrested people for being drunk in the club (customers) and also arrested club employees they observed selling drinks to drunk people. I liked it then and I like it now...
There needs to be a new organization called F.A.D.D.which would be fathers against drug drivers and take the Valum away from the MADD mothers
Conducting business is a regulated activity requiring a license. Selling liquor is a regulated business requiring a license. The bar is private property, but the business of selling liquor at the bar is a licensed privilege. If the bar just wants to be private property, they can void their licenses and stop doing business. If not, they have to do the licensed business according to the law and provisions of the license.
Umm, actually Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is a State outfit. That would be why it is called the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, and not the Dallas or Bexar County Alcoholic Beverage Commission. While local officials do have a say in the granting and renewal of alcohol licenses, the TABC is specifically designed to keep law enforcement out of local hands.
They have no power or authority inside the bar, thats private property.
Actually, as Texas peace officers on a licensed premises they have all power they need to arrest people who are commiting violations of the law in their presence.
There the charges, or no charges if you don't blow a violation, are made.
While I learn new things all of the time, I have never heard of a public intoxication suspect being offered a beath test. They give those to DWI suspects, because there is a law against operating a motor vehicle with a blood or beath alcohol over 0.8. The only crime you can commit in Texas while not operating a motor vehicle where a certain alcohol content makes you guilty is the offense of assembling an amusement ride while intoxicated.
Pure political BS. Nothing more than legallized extortion. They split revenues with the local PD and keep the balance to fund their local office.
See above comment about TABC not being local. Plus any law enforcement agency in Texas that "keeps" anything, except forfeited property after a lawsuit and trial, will soon find the Texas Rangers and/or FBI visiting.
Answer is...Refuse to go outside with them. They cannot force you to do so. NO MATTER WHAT THEY SAY. Their mandate only covers public areas.
Refusing to go outside after you have been legally arrested adds the Class A misdemeanor ($2,000 fine and six months in jail) offense of resisting arrest to the Class C misdemeanor ($500 fine and no jail time) offense of public intoxication. It also makes it a lot harder for your attorney to paint you an the innocent victim of an out of control officer, and a lot easier for the prosecutor to paint you as drunk out of your mind and exactly the sort of danger tothe public who needs to go to jail and sleep it off.
A couple more observations.
(1) Whoever thought this new policy up should be reprimanded for carrying out law enforcement in a manner that undermines public support.
(2) Whoever carried this policy out should be fired for imcompetence if they could discover just 30 drunks in 36 bars.
Commie.
They haven't started arresting us for being drunk at home yet. Or at least if they have, they missed one. LOL
My sweet Grandma, God rest her soul, lived in Irving, TX. Used to have wonderful, fond memories of that place.
I'm glad she didn't live long enough to witness the invasion of the fat, angry lesbians (A.K.A. MADD Headquarters) and the subsequent fallout of their crazy bulls**t.
Hey,hey,HEY! I was drunk in a BAR. They THREW me into PUB-LIC. I don't want to drunk in public, I want to be drunk in a bar...which is perfectly legal...arrest THEM!
my dad thinks perry is a fool, i guess he was right!
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