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 ...
Unfortunately, someone could just as easily be drunk in their own homes and go driving in their car. What's needed is good drunk driving enforcement, not Gestapo-like tactics ruining the day for people who are just having a good time. I feel that as long as someone has a designated driver, they can have all the fun they want (as long as they aren't getting so drunk that they are causing real problems such as fights or are getting sick). Are they going to start busting wedding receptions or company Christmas parties now if they are held at a public restaurant? Give me a break
That is where you are wrong. All it takes is for the arresting officer to decide that you are intoxicated. You could be totaly sober without any alcohol in your system and you could still be prosecuted with a PI.
"And they should toughen up on DUI rather than go inside the bars."
Toughen up on dui? DUI laws and the enforcement thereof is about as tough as they can get...anything more is prohibition.
I gotta theory on this. Current dui laws are not consistent with getting drunk drivers off the roads. What? People are still being killed maimed and mutilated by drunk drivers even with all these tough dui laws and enforcement.
DUI today is really nothing more than a revenue generator. Before dui we had dwd or dwi, where cops only actually locked up real drunks. Not true today. Today, cops are busy generating income chasing the guys who have had a few beers...and lord that keeps them busy and the coffers full. Meantime, the actual drunk driver, a real threat to us all, is missed because cpl just doin my duty jr. is busy locking up the guy who was ok to drive but failed the breath test at a near plus or minus ridiculous .08. Follow the money.
I believe if the law and enforcement were to return to a reasonable .15, cops would be available to respond to cell phone calls regarding an actual drunk driver...and actual drunk drivers would be caught more often than they are today. The result would be a reduction in fatal accidents involving actual drunk drivers. I am convinced that less actual drunk drivers are caught today because cops are so busy enforcing unreasonable laws at .08.
Again, while avg joe who had a few beers but was actually ok to drive is in the squad car, a real threat just slipped by and will kill someone later.
Yeah, well, where I grew up the cops had more important things to do than arrest people for being drunk. On a Friday night the town was thronged with drunk college students and other young folks. The general rule the cops used was "If you can get up and walk away, get a taxi, and go home, fine." Otherwise they'd haul you off to the drunk tank and/or hospital, which really didn't happen all that much. Idiots who broke glass in the streets, committed vandalism, hassled women or otherwise made a nuisance of themselves also got a free ride and overnight stay in the drunk tank.
Sshhhh... that's dangerous talk.
U've got to be kidding. Dallas and Houston are Sanctuary cities, and in San Antonio how would you know where to start? LEOs in Texas won't EVEN bust an illegal alien brahmin, even if he get's caught dwi.
Today your entire fraternity would be locked up for MUI.
Shepard Smith on FNC is fixin to address this now.
thanks for the heads up eastforker. got him on now.
coming up next.
yes.....instead of "don't mess with Texas!' its going to be "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH TEXAS!"
I wonder if the bar came under any penalties for overserving. I know bars have to be careful about this, and they will cut you off if they think you appear to be intoxicated.
its gone too far when a privately owned bar can't allow its patrons to smoke or drink heartily if they want.....its gone past being ridiculous to being totalitarian.....
Please cite the number of drinks that each of the 2200 people consumed. I'll keep an eye on the thread for your tally.
Thanks,
You gotta understand... This is TABC, Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission, a state version of the ATF. They take orders from no one. They do what they want. And NOBODY is allowed to mess with an illegal alien.
You got that right and FNC just had an interesting segment on it.
They just didn't do it right. We could do a much better prohibition today. Alcohol destroys families and lives. I say shut'er down.
You are right, the Texas penal code does not define PI in any measurable term. Only "-- may cause harm to oneself or others." For any LEO other than TABC, this usually means falling down drunk.
They have more authority than a game warden and that is saying something in Texas.
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