Public intoxication stings catch 2,200 in Texas bars

chron.com ^ | 3/23/06 | Anne Marie Kilday

[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.

[halfright]

Yeah I cant wait till they line up outside the gates at Texas Stadium arresting 30K people at one time......

Come to think of it....if drinking and driving are illegal why are there parking lats at bars????

[Final Authority]

Are you happy now? Do you now like the new brand of GOP southern conservatism? Many of the GWB suckups, and not just in the south, would endorse such a fascist plan to cleanse the society of drinkers who are over .08 BAC. The next step is zero tolerance. And consequently, the next step is to vote out all of the neo-GOP types and return to more sensible government.

[unixfox]

Where do we meet for the next revolution?

Last Chance Saloon?

[hadaclueonce]

"Personally, I have high hopes the TABC will be working undercover at the next Texas govs campaign headquarters (both parties.)"

I agree, we have Gov "MOFO" (his words) one tough "old hen" and one "BOZO" that is not even serious enough to staff his sign in even in Hutto.

I have decided to vote for that rabbit that comes every night to chew on the fresh grown grass in my yard. At least he is doing something for Texas without a dollar bill in his pocket.

Sorry for venting. The action of our government and THEN expecting you NOT to drink, is frustrating.

[stacytec]

Drunk driving is no excuse for strong-armed tactics by the state. I feel sorry for drunk driving victims, but the enforcement by officers should happen on the roads, not in the bars. All the folks on this thread who accept this tactic and the idiotic law behind it have signed off on state sponsored arrests of people who have done nothing more than getting drunk. ANYONE drinking alcohol could be arrested - even if they are at home or are drinking at the game. Do you really want this, Texas? Do you get it? If you dislike the consequences of drunk driving, why stop with arrests on consumers who have done nothing more but get drunk – why not just stop the production and sale of alcohol all together? But then you would lose your precious tax revenue – of course! Better to let them have their drug and collect the money on the sale and on the ticket after arrest!

[unixfox]

Like your tagline.

[hadaclueonce]

You need to check out Williamson County. Sun City and such, they think Hitler was a softy.

[Willie Green]

Republicrats

[unixfox]

When are they going to start arresting those whom are drunk in congress?

Better yet, when are we going to start making them piss in a cup?

[Ron H.]

Now that's a motto a Texan can understand and get behind and support with a passion........

[gopheraj]

Yep, Hopefully that will happen.

Just talked to our daughter (who hardly EVER drinks at all) and she said she couldn't believe this. Said IF she was in a bar and they tried to arrest her, she would tell them "just a minute" and proceed to go buy as many jello shots as she could so they would really have something to arrest her for LOLL

I can't believe that 3 beers is a guide to PI. What do they think people go into bars for? Certainly not to sit for hours and only have 2 drinks. Can't imagine a bar that would be able to sustain a business that way. IMO, only arrest someone for PI who is a nuisance and the bar owner/workers calls the cops on.

[festus]

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.

No kiddin. Arresting drunk folks in bars should be like shooting fish in a barrel.

Stopping this should become a ballot issue in short order with folks running to put and end to this insanity.

[Flavius Josephus]

who sold alcohol to a drunk person

I'm glad you posted that to me becaus I didn't understand what it meant the way it was phrased in the article.

[festus]

Yah thats right arrest folks before they've done anything wrong.

Heck I'm calling your sherrif right now to have you arrested for being impersonating a conservative. You might eventually bomb an abortion clinic we can't be sure. Better be safe than sorry.

God the republic is riding low in the water.

[edcoil]

Doesn't the owner of the bar have a 4th amendment right to keep the cops out of his establishment?

[RedStateRocker]

The second you get in your car, however....

I think the Rodney King treatment was just about right, indeed I used to yank people's chains by saying I had *NO* trouble with what happened to Rodney King (immediate angered reaction) as long as it happened to everyone who blows dirty:-)

[wardaddy]

I agree....an abuse of power.

[American_Centurion]

FYI, most Christians are not Tee Totalers. "Drunks" in the true meaning of the word, not your judgemental version, consist of a very small segment of society. The segement of alcohol consuming adults who would actually qualify for the term "drunks" are statistically so insignificant that they wouldn't even show up if you rounded to the nearest whole number (i.e. no decimals).

Trust me, if/when persecution of Christians becomes a favorite past time of the state, it won't be "drunks" who do it. It will be the police. You know as well as I do that it will happen, we don't know when, but it will.

[TKDietz]

"Personally, I believe we should outlaw smoking.

If families can sue tobacco companies because their loved ones died while using tobacco products - and WIN - then why is it still a legal product?"

Using your logic ladders would be illegal. Any dangerous products would be illegal because the companies that produce them have been successfully sued when people were injured by their products. That's silly. Do you think that these lawsuits against tobacco companies have succeeded because tobacco is a dangerous product? That's not really what's been going on. What people have been arguing is that tobacco is a dangerous product and therefore the tobacco companies had a duty to warn people of the known dangers of their products. Tobacco companies did exactly the opposite for many years. They lied about their products. They knew tobacco was highly addictive but they denied that it was and did their best to produce junk science to support conclusions they knew weren't true. They marketed their dangerous products to children, wanting them to get hooked early so they would be customers for life. Some of them really were guilty of some fairly egregious conduct over a period of several decades. The lawsuits have been successful not because tobacco is a dangerous product, but because tobacco companies deceived the public about the dangers of their products. Had they not done that, I think they would have successfully defended these lawsuits arguing that they made people aware of the known dangers and those who were harmed by their products had assumed the risks involved.

I hate cigarettes. But if we made tobacco illegal we'd just create another giant illegal industry. It would be a gift to organized criminals and anyone else looking for easy black market cash, including terrorist types wanting untraceable money to fund their operations. We'd probably have to hire more cops and more judges and more prosecutors, public defenders, and on and on and on. We'd have to build more jails and prisons to house those who violate the laws. Smoking would probably go down some but millions would still do it. Cigarettes would be sold by drug dealers who also sell much worse stuff, making tobacco a much worse "gateway drug" than it already is. With so many more violating laws the overall respect level for the laws and those who enforce them would sink further. It would just be a stupid thing to do that would cost us a fortune and create a lot more problems than it solves.

[TKDietz]

"I'm sure MADD is behind this. I guess next is "one sip, legally drunk" laws where if you drive after having just one sip, you go to jail."

I tried a DWI case yesterday where those were pretty much the facts. My client had drank just part of a beer to take some medicine because there was nothing else to drink where she was. She was pulled over because there were no tags on her car. She passed one of the field sobriety tests, the horizontal gaze nystagmus test where they have you look at a moving object and check for certain involuntary movements your eyes might make, but failed the one leg stand test and the walk and turn test because she had broken her neck, shoulder, back and hip in an accident and couldn't keep her balance like most people. She only registered .05%, and passed a drug test, but the cop charged her anyway, even though there was no erratic driving, no slurred speech, or anything else indicating intoxication aside from balance problems caused by her past injuries that the officer knew about. Thankfully the judge granted us a directed verdict after the State put on their case. We'd have gone to jury trial had she been found guilty. I can't believe the things they'll arrest people for these days. This particular officer has never had a drink in his life and he seems to think that anyone who will touch alcoholic beverages is evil. We've got a few like that around here.