http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060323/...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

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.

Is Texas trying to become part of China?

You have got to be joking! What's next? They invade your home after the were informed of your liqour purchase? "I am sorry m'am but we have to arrest you because you might drive a car."

The reasons given can be done at home as well.... better yet: what is the chance of jumping of a balcony into a pool in a public street? I'll bet almost next to nothing.... so what is this spokeswoman implying?

Ahhh.....

Arresting folks for being drunk in a bar. Yup, I think the Sheriffs out in Texas have been in the sun a little too long.

I see it as one of those touchy feely operations. Someone in Texas has a lot of power and they don't like drinking.

This will be taken to court and the LEOs will be struck down for it.

What in the heck are they thinking? Who is to say that those individuals would even be driving?!?!

I would definitely be up in arms about this. Technically you can have one beer and be considered publicly intoxicated if your blood alchohol content is above the legal limit described by law. I mean geez.

"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."

Darwinism at work if you ask me.

So, this removes the option of PCSing to Texas.

So it would seem. You would think they would just sit in the parking lot until people tried to get in their car then stop them there. Makes no sense to me. Now bar sales are going to be down and the men and women that work them are going to be making less money etc. Not to mention the taxes and other revenues produced by the bars. Meh, lots of things that it will affect.

Originally Posted by Marinerhodes

So it would seem. You would think they would just sit in the parking lot until people tried to get in their car then stop them there. Makes no sense to me. Now bar sales are going to be down and the men and women that work them are going to be making less money etc. Not to mention the taxes and other revenues produced by the bars. Meh, lots of things that it will affect.

This is what happens when stupid people gather in large numbers, get authority and guns.

I think someone saw "Minority Report" and thought, "Hey what a great idea".


It makes my memories of 6th Street in Austin all the more bittersweet... ahhhh.

TABC is going nuts, I can say as a Dallas resident. Texas has always been like this, blame it on "conservative values" or whatever. We want to legalize alcohol then slap every conceivable law against it we can... it's really schizophrenic.

On the best Dallas weekend talk radio show about law, they where discussing this and two guys called up who said they where arrested without being formally charged at Dallas-area bars. There is, in fact, a little known police power in Texas that the TABC can use where you can arrest someone without having the necessary "probable cause" to charge them. So if a TABC officer decides to use his discretion in a bar he can take you to Lou Sterret without even giving you a sobriety test or anything.

The first caller said he had just moved from out of state and a TABC officer approached him and he thought it was a joke... because he'd never heard of the TABC before. He thought it was like an off duty security guard or whatever. And the officer arrested him and took him to Lou Sterret under that rule even though he hadn't had a single drink and was asking for a sobriety test. (that was the call that brought up the subject of that dubious police power).

A second caller called in saying he was one of the most recent arrested and that he was taken to LSU (an affectionate phrase we Dallas-ites have for Lou Sterret University) because he was holding 3 drinks coming back from the bar to give to his friends... apparently under Texas law you can't hold that many at a time. He was never charged, he was released the next morning.

Aparently that particular rule is meant for like, taking people out of riot scenes or other such flamable situations on officer discretion so even if you can't charge them you can calm the situation... and it's been taken to insane extremes in our state. Yet it's difficult to challenge because, you arn't charged, so you arn't really in the legal system and don't have any real damages... difficult to challenge a ruling when you arn't ever ruled guilty!

I think the TABC is trying to show its "effectiveness" for some kind of political funds or something. That's how government works.

Sounds like some George Orwell wrote.... bloody hell, what a mess!

By the way, welcome back WD!