isn't that the point? to get drunk and take a cab home? or stagger home if a couple of blocks away? then wonder what happened after waking up and discovering new tattoos?
Thursday, March 23, 2006; Posted: 9:56 a.m. EST (14:56 GMT)
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 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 drunkenness, 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.
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The truth shall make you free. Well F that! Pay me!
Same with busting people choosing to WALK rather than DRIVE drunk home from a bar with a PI. I had a friend who had that happen to him, and he was totally minding his own business. But I guess it was because it happened in a small town and in smaller towns, people walking look "Suspicious". How goofy.
I've only passed through Texas, and that was when I was a kid. Still, I bet they have bigger problems than drunks hanging out in bars. I would guess illegal immigrants are crossing their border like cockroaches and at least a few of them aren't just looking for a better life. And, that's just my first guess.
Every so often, here in southern California the TV news will have a piece about how the police have busted people soliciting prostitution or selling home made CDs. The police spokesman will be standing there, explaining all the details, and I'll wonder if he's insane. There are neighborhoods that are being terrorized by gangs and children being murdered. He's just stopped some guy from paying for sex or made sure that Sony didn't lose a nickel on one of their CDs, and he is all proud of himself.
I can only imagine what programs they're cutting back on in Texas, but there's plenty of money to go under cover in bars.
I watched a brief bit on one of the news networks about this. ( I think Paula Zahn)
The spokeswoman for Texas Alcohol Control or whatever it's called said they are not going in and aressting people who are "sitting quietly in the bar enjoying drinks", but rather the "obvious drunks". They then give the standard sobriety check to measure their physical and mental faculties. If they fail that, they they give them a Breathalyzer from their portable machines and arrest them if they fail.
So far, over 2200 people have been arrested on these charges and the majority of them are the drinkers and NOT the bartenders. The spokeswoman said that the purpose of these arrests were to prevent people from harming themselves and/or others as in drunk driving. Texas has the highest DUI rate. (Umm...is that based on DUI's per capita, or as a percentage? Texas is a pretty damn big state).
They also had a lawyer on the other side who said that drinking is perfectly legal when you are over 21 and likened this to Prohibition.
Wouldn't you think that it would be more productive to SURVEY how many people are drunk in establishments and then go over the bartenders and servers who continue to sell drinks to those who are overly intoxicated and go after them?? Afterall, what IS illegal is to continue to serve those who are already intoxicated.
yeah that is true because the guy whose daughter was killed by a drunk driver after leaving a Giants game sued the concession stand owner and stadium because they continued to give this guy alcohol knowing he was drunk.
I'm also thinking, the dude will be walking who the hell will he hurt. the ground that he falls on?
this is a waste of money and time and it seems like laws are going back in time. I'm all for stopping drunk drivers, but drunk walkers or drunks in bars who haven't done anything except fall of the stool???
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The truth shall make you free. Well F that! Pay me!
isn't that the point? to get drunk and take a cab home? or stagger home if a couple of blocks away? then wonder what happened after waking up and discovering new tattoos? 
who the hell will he hurt. the ground that he falls on? 
