Texas Teetotalin'

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.

The first sting operation was conducted recently in a Dallas suburb where agents infiltrated 36 bars and arrested 30 people for public intoxication, said the commission’s Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.

The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.

“We feel that the only way we’re going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this,” she said.

“There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they’re intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car,” Beck said. “People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss.”

She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.

No Mrs. H, I will not immigrate to the US.

// nobody arrested for public nudity in his locker in a Texas public bath yet? Or?
// what about arresting patients in hospitals for being uncorrectly dressed?
// newspaper reader for the possibility to aqcuire a terrorim-supporting world view?
// or arresting Bob H. for wasting your time?
:wink:

Reason for OP?

…baffled? :idunno:

I don’t know. It’s a bit harsh to be arresting people for being drunk incase they cause damage to themselves. Is being drunk in a public place an arrestable offence or does it just incur a fine? I know there is a law in the UK against being drunk, but no one really gives a toss about it. Sounds like the police in Texas don’t really have much else to do.

Well not too long ago they were (in Dallas) driving police cars down the highway next to each other really slow to prevent people from speeding. But the people of Dallas threw a fit because it was illegal. Surely this will be taken care of soon too. I am surprised that it is in San Antonio and not in Dallas. The San Antonio city government doesn’t usually suck THAT bad. The Dallas city government is crazy.

A bit harsh??? :astonished: Arresting people for being drunk inside a bar is totally crazy. People should be permitted to get drunk in bars – many of us assumed that was what they were intended for – so long as they don’t puke on anyone, get in a fight or drive home drunk.

I’m sure the bar owners aren’t very happy about this either. Will they be held liable next? Will they be required to give breathalyzer tests before serving drinks? Will those who get arrested start suing the bars for having served them the booze that caused them to get arrested?

As explained by TABC Administrator Alan Steen, “We are looking for people who are intoxicated to the extent that they are a danger to themselves or others, and we want to cite the people who sold alcoholic beverages to them. Rather than working to increase arrests of drunk drivers, it is our intent to decrease the number of drunk drivers by stopping them before they leave the bars.”

I bet the bar owners in Texas are mostly Democrats and that some well-connected Republicans were recently arrested for DUI.

If I’m right then this is just payback sold as public service and codified in Texas law.

If I’m wrong then Texas has gone off the deep end (although the state does have a really big problem with underage drinkers).

Well, the TABC (Texas alch bev commission) certification courses teach servers that they can be arrested if the person they serve too much does something. And there are laws about how much you can serve someone.
But all that aside, I find this to be stupid as hell. Arresting people for being drunk just assuming they don’t have a designated driver. … Most bars have designated driver specials. You say you are the designated driver you get your NA beverages for free.

Yes, and bars/bartenders have been sued (successfully I believe) for serving someone who drank so much that he died, or so much that he got into a terrible accident driving home. The former type of case makes sense if the bartender serves a 21 yr old who 21 drinks in an hour or something like that – obviously there could be disastrous consequences. Even the latter makes sense, if the bartender knows a patron is totally shitfaced and is driving home and he keeps serving him drinks.

But, I always assumed a bar was a safe haven where one was allowed to get plastered if one wanted, so long as one didn’t harm others or drive home drunk. It’s a darn shame if that will no longer be the case in the future. Is drinking going the way of cigarettes – increasingly banned, shamed and harassed till one can only enjoy the vice in the privacy of ones home (till the feds come after you there)? Or is this just some bizarre aberration?

[quote=“bob_honest”]No Mrs. H, I will not immigrate to the US.
[/quote]

excluded California of course.