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 ...
Would that that were the case. There are already instances where local municipalities have mandated that you can't smoke in your own home. Apparently you don't have to be blatantly aberrant in your home to merit their attention in some places.
I just have little sympathy for people who let alcohol control them and can't control it.
I have a similar sympathy, but i don't think their shortcomings should define freedom for the rest of us.
Hope it went well at the doctor for you.
The TABC has always used gestapo tactics.
I have heard that about them too. I guess I need to be careful not to laugh or talk too loud when I'm out in public having a drink. After all, the people in the next booth may be undercover police. Where will this all end? Will other patrons start "informing" on others because they think they might be drunk. Scary stuff, eastforker, scary stuff.
Tell me about it. I used to have a bar, redneck country joint. You could alway tell the undercovers by their shoes.
Tales I heard were about those operating in Collin Co. Many new restaurants had to wait a long time after opening b/c TABC would hold up their license.
Sorry, i guess i just don't share your fears.
Evidently; Chuck Norris (a Texas Ranger) can see drunk drivers even before they leave the BAR... MAN hes good..
No, but he is a real Texas LEO.
Then the legislature needs to change the law. Police are only doing their job if the law is simply about public drunkenness. It just still seems to me to be a poor use of resources, though, when the state, I would assume, has a lot of other problems. And they should toughen up on DUI rather than go inside the bars. But the legislature needs to do their job.
GET OUT!... (pushing like Elaine on Seinfeld)..
Sorry....
That mouth is about the right size for the neck of a Jack Daniel's fifth.
Oh, dude, we would have to disband so quick!
That's it! I'm taking a cab!
The law states you are intoxicated if you blood alcohol level is above .08. What part of that don't you understand?
This all started with motorcycle helmet laws...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1601798/posts
As I stated in #77...I am sorry.
"These PI laws are not new and it isn't just Texas."
No, they're not and it isn't. However, in the past the unwritten understanding has been that PI laws would only be used to hassle bums and drunks who were making a nuisance of themselves, not harmless bar patrons who are over the legal BAC level for driving. I mean, if you don't like drunks in bars, you could maybe just stay out of bars? These people they arrested were not wandering the streets causing a danger to themselves or anyone else. They weren't passed out in the mall or on a park bench. They were in a bar, spending their own money, and not bothering anyone. If the law is going to be used in this way it needs to be changed.
Agreed. Glad these guys weren't around when I was in college. My entire fraternity could have been arrested on any given weekend.
IT'S THE LAW.
If that is the law, then the law is an ass.
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