Posted on 03/22/2006 10:40:15 AM PST by Daytyn71
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission sent a message to bar patrons last week.
TABC agents and Irving police swept through 36 Irving bars and arrested about 30 people on charges of public intoxication. Agency representatives say the move came as a proactive measure to curtail drunken driving.
North Texans interviewed by NBC 5, however, worried that the sweep went too far.
At one location, for example, agents and police arrested patrons of a hotel bar. Some of the suspects said they were registered at the hotel and had no intention of driving. Arresting authorities said the patrons were a danger to themselves and others.
"Going to a bar is not an opportunity to go get drunk," TABC Capt. David Alexander said. "It's to have a good time but not to get drunk."
Dallas comedian Steve Harvey agreed with the Texas residents who said the arrests infringed on individual rights.
"If a guy's got a designated driver, go ahead and let him get toasted," Harvey told NBC 5.
Texas law states that inebriated individuals could be subjected to arrest anywhere for public intoxication. Harvey and other North Texans called the measure extreme.
"That seems to be an extreme case," one man said. "You are self-contained, in the hotel, you're not going in the streets, it seems a little ridiculous."
TABC officials said the sweep concerned saving lives, not individual rights. Harvey and others interviewed by NBC 5 said they believe drunken driving to be unacceptable, although Harvey wanted to confirm that the United States remains a free country.
"Freedom of drinking should always be allowed, and it is only American to let a guy get drunk where he wants to get drunk," Harvey said.
Bigs deserves a pat on the back for conversation stimulation....but that's all....
We used to have a whole bunch of them. Some were Pepsi... actually they said "Popsi" and some were Mountoin Dew. We would individually wrap a case of beer and throw them all in a cooler to take into concerts or to the beach.
Now, hold on one second! What about people who have children in their home? Their children might see them drunk, which is certainly a bad example, and at any moment that child might slip and fall or something and need a ride to the ER.
Nope, no drinking at home either!
There are bars in Texas that the police would never visit....unless they were searching for a murderer and had SWAT backup.... Busting a well-dressed businessman in the local Holiday Inn takes "guts"..... Wonder when these cowboys will come in blasting away with tasers?/sarcasm...
I lived on a boat for a few months, so the boat was my home.
I don't doubt that. I've never been to Texas, but my husband used to live there and I have heard some stories about those type places!!!!
Yep. That changed in 2001.
Before that, an open container was hunky-dory as long as the driver wasn't observed by the officer to be drinking from it. But then, not too many years ago, say around 1990, there wasn't any such thing as 'open container' in Texas ...
You have no right what so ever to be plastered/drunk in public. Not in a moving car, behind the wheel, walking in the park, or down the street on your anchored boat, sitting on a bench, or any other location; period.
What you do in your own home booze wise is up to you if you are an adult.
In truth, your attitude is one of the reasons that there are 10s of thousands of people killed by boozed up drivers in this country every year.
Spoken like someone who, as a teenager, got her drunk and still didn't get any.
I am a native Texan... When a police department starts crap like this, it is usually because the chief was hired from another country errrr state....
I'm getting to like Kinky even more ...
Texas...? You'd think they would be busy rounding up all those who are breaking the law by being here illegally!
Time for the local citizens to call the police dept. and report any drunken police in the bars where they hangout.
Didn't a former NYC Police Chief relocate there sometime back and take over one of your PDs and a huge fuster cluck ensue? (I come from 3 generations of NYPD and so have no qualms about finding fault with them when they deserve it)
Kinky was right.
Yes, Lee. P. Brown. (the periods were utilized by his "professional" staff in marketing mail-outs to enhance his reelection prospects...most of his supporters never noticed...)
His handle was, "Out-ta-Town Leroy Brown" He visited Africa, on the public dole, as a Houston area economic effort.....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA
It could be that they did so reluctantly. But they should have flat out refused to assist them, or forced TABC to get an order from a state judge.
As it went down the citizens had rights trampled on, if you assist in trampling rights, you are no different than the German troops who were just following orders. They are no more than instruments of tyranny.
LOL!!!!!
I thought it was Houston, but wasn't 100% sure and since my husband isn't home, I couldn't ask him to refresh my memory.
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