Free Republic

Since Hurricane Ike struck — pitching much of the city into darkness — Houston police have made about 280 arrests every day. Most were for nonviolent offenses, including 388 for public intoxication and 335 for drug possession, police said. The totals actually show a decrease from pre-Ike levels, when Houston police were arresting about 370 people daily, according to department officials. "A lot of the credit goes to the visibility of the officers. We're trying to deter as much crime as we possibly can," said HPD spokesman John Cannon. Arrests for looting have dwindled. Of the 168 arrests made since...

New Jersey appellate court decision upholds a DUI for a man sleeping in a parked truck under the influence. New Jersey Superior Court logoA New Jersey appellate court yesterday upheld the principle that convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) can be imposed on individuals who were not driving. David Montalvo, 36, found this out as he responsibly tried to sleep off his intoxication in his GMC pickup truck while safely stopped in the parking lot of the Market Place Deli on a cold February morning last year. At around 5am he awoke to see a Hamburg Police...

AUSTIN — A former bartender at a Texas Capitol-area bar has sued her old employer, claiming she was fired because she refused to serve state Sen. John Whitmire when he was drunk. A top aide to Whitmire, D-Houston, said she was present that night at the Cloak Room and called the bartender's allegations about the senator a "complete fabrication." In her lawsuit, Rebekah L. Lear said she lost her job at the bar because she refused to serve Whitmire a second scotch on the night of March 8. Lear also alleges that Whitmire threatened to have her fired. Lear claims...

CULPEPER, Va. (AP) - Two people police say were hoping to avoid drinking and driving chose instead to head home on horseback, and ended up under arrest anyway. Culpeper police officers Lonnie Myers and Tim Chilton heard a disturbance last Thursday around midnight and found Culpeper residents Eric Kyff and Lauren Allen arguing, Sgt. Scott Jenkins said. Kyff and Allen, who appeared to be intoxicated, wanted to "travel home several miles by horseback to avoid drinking and driving," Jenkins said. Kyff, 39, took off along a nearby set of railroad tracks but was stopped shortly after by Chilton, police said....

Last weekend’s public intoxication sting operation at Progreso drew together several important — but, at times, conflicting — values for Rio Grande Valley residents to consider. About 160 young Valley residents — many of them minors and nearly all of them younger than 21 — were arrested late Saturday night or early Sunday morning after they crossed the international bridge while returning from Nuevo Progreso, Mexico. Under Operation Stronghold, they were detained by Progreso police officers, who were joined by Hidalgo County constable’s deputies and Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents, and then were jailed until they or their parents paid...