Posted on 03/23/2006 8:18:08 AM PST by takenoprisoner
More than 2,200 people have been arrested in Texas bars in the six months since the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission announced a crackdown on public intoxication, primarily targeting bars.
The arrests included people who were drunk in bars, who sold alcohol to a drunk person, or a drunk employee on the premises of a bar or restaurant with a license to sell alcohol, said Carolyn Beck, a spokeswoman for the TABC.
The commission has been responsible for enforcing the state's alcoholic beverage code for the past 70 years. In August, 2005, the agency announced it was beginning a crackdown on public intoxication, using both undercover and open operations.
The agency has used undercover agents before, Beck said. In a recent operation, agents infiltrated 36 bars in a Dallas suburb and arrested 30 people for public intoxication.
(Excerpt) Read more at chron.com ...
That'll teach those bar patrons.. next time they are going to get drunk they should just go through the drive-thru liquor stores. :)
I have no tolerance for drunks. We aren't talking about a few drinks and getting a little buzzed we are talking about staggering, falling down slurring drunks.
Most who don't have a designated driver or have the sense to call a cab.
These PI laws are not new and it isn't just Texas. It just to happens right now that we are discussing an article about Texas.
At best, these crackdowns are examples of unwarranted government intrusion into private matters. I must wonder if there is not a hidden agenda of effectively shutting down alcohol sales in bars and restaurants. Smoking is essentially prohibited in most places outside of private homes. Perhaps alcohol is the next target.
What is hypocritical are these pseudo-conservatives who are really authoritarians who post on FR defending any and every abuse of government power. What the Texas Alcohol Beverage Control Board is doing is as much unwarranted government intrusion as any "hate speech" or "speech code" ordinance.
Our new "Republican majority" in Texas government at work.
They are mostly Democrats with R's after their names, and have added new meaning of government intrusion into our lives. They have raised fees for every concievable state service and increased the state budget by about 15 billion or so, but hey don't worry they say they are from the government and are here to help us.
Texas is always pushing a "designated driver" program. if you go out and get drunk, with someone staying sober to drive, and you still get arrested, what's the point? is the arrest point for being drunk the same as driving drunk?
(I would refuse, let them arrest me)
Now thats funny.
According to the article, these stings were staged to prevent DWI.
There is no objective standard for public intoxication as there is for DWI; the sole arbiter of "drunk" is the arresting officer.
Someone had better mess with Texas real soon. It's like they're vying with California and New York for being the state most restrictive of individual liberty.
Just out of curiosity, would you support a reinstatement of Prohibition?
What a ridiculous position to take; I might as well tell you that if you want to be obnoxious, you ought to do it where I am not forced to see it.
Only if you start beating you wife and or kids or or shooting up the neighborhood or maybe an ambulance has to be called to carry your drunk butt to the hospital for alcohol poisoning.
I guess after years as a paramedic and working emergency rooms I just have little sympathy for people who let alcohol control them and can't control it.
Sorry I can't hang around and spar with ya'll but I have a doctors appointment in 1 1/2 hours.
Drunk in public is drunk in public, i have no problem with this.
Welcome to the fascist police state.
There, fixed.
You are of course quite correct. State and local governments have quite the tradition of unjust revenue-generation methods at the expense of innocent citizens.
They weren't in public (property owned by the government). They were in private establishments. Technically, if the cops can arrest them for being drunk in a privately-owned bar, they can arrest them for being drunk in their houses.
2,200x$500=$1.1M
TABC has gone nuts here in Texas.
My son ran a resturant here in Texas. An undercover sting operation was going on. A waitress served a customer 2 beers within an hour. TABC went over and arrested the customer and closed the restaurant down for 28 days. TRUE STORY!
If they make enough laws, there will be no innocent citizens
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