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 ...
Nah... I've sipped beer while sitting next to a police car at a traffic light. He watch me pick up the cup and just sort of waved at me.
I'm not a constitutional attorney but I believe that these arrests are unlawful under the 4th Amendment prohibiting illegal searches and seizures. A Bar, although a business, is still private property. Everyone who was arrested under this law should ask for a trial by jury (which they are entitled to under the Constitution) and countersue the City for unlawful arrest. Appeal any decisions in favor of the Gov't to the appellate courts (and possibly the Supreme Court)
The Courts will become overloaded and the City will not be able to pay to keep up with the caseload. The net effect I'm sure would be to change the law.
Yeah, you have a sad story..... you are the only one..... it's all about you....
You don't deserve America.
Nobody stopping you from being a drunk?
Class action suits just make the lawyers rich.
Now 2,200 individual suits. That'll leave a mark.
My idea of freedom isn't barrelling down the road drunk. But these officers weren't arresting drunk drivers. They were arresting people drinking in a bar. Arresting people for crimes that they have not committed is BS, no matter how much of a puritanical zealot you are.
.08 isn't the determining factor in this instance.
It's been stated several times that "drunk" is subjective to the officer's judgement for Public Intoxication. And these TABC agents were using 3 or more beers as their measuring stick.
You are an authoritarian supporting facism.
SHHHH!!! Rather than realize the error of their ways, the nanny-staters will use your logic to start pre-emptively arresting people in their homes.
maybe instead of that they should just go after all the distributers for intentionally distrubuting anything that might be sold to someone for personal enjoyment just in case???
I pushed nothing, i just gave an opinion.
"Are you going to sleep in the bar or drive home? Get them in the bar before they head home."
Well, now. As a matter of fact, some of these arrests have taken place in hotel bars, where many of the patrons would be likely to just get in the elevator and go back to their rooms.
Get real, please.
This article isn't about drunk driving. It isn't even about fall down dangerous drunks. It's about facist pig jackboots, abusing the law to criminalize people, enhance revenue, and retard freedom.
I consider anyone who advocates this type of police-state activity an enemy of freedom.
Go after the distributors, the brewers, the bartenders, and the patrons. Go after them with taxes, licensing fees, more taxes and jail time. It's a crusade!! Woohoo!!!
Look at all the "conservatives" defending this!
maybe we should all go back to backyard moonshine?
Der Kommissar's in town!
Don't be surprised when your views backfire on you and you are the target of state sponsored criminalization for your own good. Or you wind up like the last powerful batch of fascists, gasping for air at the end of a rope.
Not a threat, that's just the way these things always end up. Maybe you'll be lucky and die of old age before your utopia comes around to bite you in the butt.
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