Texas arresting people in bars for being drunk

Wow! This is a shameful time for Texas, a million times more shameful than all those other times.

Maybe it's an attempt to keep people in a constant state of fear so they'll be more obedient. What else could they be trying to accomplish by legalizing alcohol, providing people with places to drink it in, and then arresting them when they do just that? This is one of those things that would make your head explode if you tried to think about it too hard.

I'm totally gonna get kicked in the balls on this one but I don't care.

I don't really see a problem with it. Well, I guess it all kind of depends on how "drunk" they consider drunk to be. If you're all stumbly and stupid, hell yeah - PI. Send em to the tank. Those people ARE dangerous, to themselves and other people. Plus, it doesn't say if these arrests were solo drinkers or if they had their DD in tow. I'm guessing it's the former. If you just have a good social buzz going on and aren't making a spectacle of yourself I feel like you'll be fine (likewise if you're really getting into it but have a sober friend there to keep you from making an ass of yourself). Don't be so quick to get indignant.

I'm not a big drinker (in fact I might have two a month) so I agree, I don't much care. If it prevents me from getting hit some fucknut who's drunk driving then I'm all for it. I don't really care to have my new car or my life taken away from me. Nor do I want to hit some drunk idiot who wanders out onto the street out of nowhere in the middle of the night.

I suppose what they could do is wait until the people step outside the bar then nab them rather then going into the bar and arresting them.

Yeah, that's standard practice, and I'm all for it, but if this extra step will keep me from having a beer bottle smashed over my face if I accidentally bump into some big dumb drunk redneck, then hell yeah. Come in and get em.

Preparing for my nuts to get kicked in as well: There isn't anything illegal with what the cops are doing, the law has been there in what I'm assuming is every state, I guess Texas is just enforcing it. Being a bartender is a former life, I can tell you we weren't supposed to let people get drunk in our bar. That's why the bartender has the power to cut people off. That rule was there for one reason though, if someone stumbled out drunk and did something stupid, we could be held liable since we supplied the booze. Granted, this wasn't a rule we ever followed (unless the patron was a dick and we wanted a reason to make them feel uncomfortable, or unless we knew this person could tend to be a rowdy drunk). Does the law suck? Sure, especially if you're the one getting busted, but it's not like the cops are busting you for being drunk in your own house.

Good luck trying this on 6th Street in Austin. I don't think they have the cell space.

Everyone knows what will get you busted for DWI, but does anyone know what the criteria is for public intoxication? If there is no material evidence, like video or a breathalizer, then it may be very easy to get a PI charge dismissed.

When I first heard about this, I couldn't believe it. It's so ridiculous, I sort of felt embarrassed at how people would look at Texas. I don't even drink either. I hate alcohol. This is just plain stupid.

I think screening drivers outside the bar's a better idea, but I don't have a big problem with this. I endorse much, much stiffer penalties for DUI bastards. Maybe mandatory thumb-removal.

They expect people to live in Texas sober?

Thought Police cracking down again

They were arresting people who had rooms at the hotel.....


http://www.pnionline.com/dnblog/attytood/

Last week, we told you how the Thought Police in NYC are arresting people who look like they're going to riot. Now, in Texas, they've found a new way to nail people -- by going after public drunks...

...in places like hotel bars, where the biggest problem they'd face at the end of the night would be finding the right elevator button for their floor.

No, we are not making this up:

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."

What do people think about this? What happened to cops just waiting in the parking lot to see who staggers out and gets behind the wheel -- isn't that a lot more justifiable? Sure, drunks are "are a danger to themselves." (Maybe Mickey Mantle and Billy Martin, to name two, would be still alive if we'd only kept them under 24-hour police surveillance!)

But what if the cops went into a hotel bar and arrested someone who smoked a pack of cigarettes, or was on his cell phone betting heavily on college hoops, or leaving to go upstairs and have unprotected sex. Aren't they "a danger to themselves and others"?

Where does it stop?

While I've not seen anything in the news I have heard reports from folks I know that frequent 6th Street that TABC has been out in force over the past week and nailing people on the PI bit.

As has been mentioned this is clearly an attempt to put a dent in the drunk driving problem. However I don't think this is the right way to go about it.

In Texas it is illegal to serve alcohol to anyone that is clearly intoxicated. I know that the places in downtown Austin that I frequent do adhere to that, though there are certainly plenty that do not.

All of the places I frequent also have security on staff. Part of their job is to identify those people in the bar/club that have had too much to drink, identify if they might be a problem, and deal with it accordingly.

What happens inside the bar or club is, and should be, the responsibility of the people that own/run the place. The places that I spend my time, if someone is or could be a problem, they are removed. The staff will offer to get them a ride if they've been drinking and don't have a sober driver and if necessary, the cops are called in to deal with the situation. In my opinion, that's how it should work.

Just because someone exhibits signs of intoxication doesn't necessarily mean they pose a danger to anyone. If TABC and the local police really want to nail people for this sort of thing and cut down on the drunk driving problem there are better ways to do it.

Have agents walking the streets outside the clubs and in the parking lots. Nail the people that clearly pose a problem. Let them get behind the wheel of the car and bust them immediately, before they get on the road. At that point it's no longer a PI, it's a DUI/DWI.

As it is, I see this going into bars, clubs, and hotels and arresting people as nothing more than a campaign of fear.

We should've never fought the Mexican American war.

I think we know what to blame for this.

Brokeback Mountain.

Not Crash?

As yet another teetotaler (wow, more than one on the boards! How unexpected), and one who has also seen the effects of drinking+loved ones (no death, harm, or mutilation in these cases, either. Well, there is one, but no one had commenced drinking yet), I also find it mildly disturbing that arrests are being made INSIDE these drinking establishments. However, if it means less drunk drivers, I sure as shit am all for it.

Er'thing is bigger in Texas!!!! Including the stupidity of the state laws! Yeay Texas.

This is nonsense! Drinking is Texas' No. 1 pastime!

Hell, it's America's No. 1 pastime!

Unpatriotic commie bastards...

Read the paper(Dallas Morning News) today, and it cleared a little up for me.

It turns out the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is in jeopardy of being eliminated. It barely stayed alive when it was reviewed by the government in 2005, because it seemed worthless. They decided to extend them for 2007, and review it again to see if it's any better or worse. What a coincidence that the TABC decides to take this type of action. Is someone trying to raise their numbers up to make themselves look better?

Considering the number of parties I went to in high school that were raided by the TABC, arch enemy of every highschooler in Texas, you'd think they'd be plenty busy. Mind you this was more years ago than I care to admit. Are the kids just not boozing it up like they used to these days?

I guess Texans better sing it while they can:



An El Paso hellhole, I couldn't get higher
White lightning moonshine, tastes like fire
I drank for free till I couldn't see
I fell on the floor, what I said is

I'm blind in Texas, the lone star is hot tonight
I'm blind in Texas, the cowboys have taken my eyes

I drank Dallas whiskey and lost my mind
Had high-balls in Houston, three for a dime yeah
Everything starts to spin, loaded on gin
I fell out the door, what I said is

I'm blind in Texas, the lone star is hot tonight
I'm blind in Texas, the cowboys have taken my eyes

San Antonio and the West Texas town El Paso
Corpus Christi and Waco, the Yellow Rose is wild

Raisin` hell in Austin just after sundown
When the hoose-gow police decided to come `round - they said:
"Boy what's the matter with you, what you trying to do?"
I looked at the man and I said:

I'm blind in Texas (Texas), the lone star is hot tonight
I'm blind in Texas (Texas), I'm blind in Texas