Arrested for drinking in a bar?

[TehBorken]

  [h1 style="font-family: Verdana; font-weight: normal;" class="Headline"]WTF?? Why are they arresting adults who are drinking legally in a bar? Is this just a new way for the idiots at the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission to flex their muscles, or what? This seems like an utter waste of taxpayer dollars to me. Are we all now supposed to be afraid to go out and have a drink in a bar now?
[/h1][hr style="width: 100%; height: 2px;"][font style="font-weight: bold;" size="5"]Bar Sweep Sparks Controversy[/font]

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."  

Dallas comedian Steve Harvey agreed with the Texas residents who said the arrests infringed on individual rights."If a guy's got a designated driver, go ahead and let him get toasted," Harvey told NBC 5.Texas law states that inebriated individuals could be subjected to arrest anywhere for public intoxication.

Harvey and other North Texans called the measure extreme."That seems to be an extreme case," one man said. "You are self-contained, in the hotel, you're not going in the streets, it seems a little ridiculous."TABC officials said the sweep concerned saving lives, not individual rights.

Harvey and others interviewed by NBC 5 said they believe drunken driving to be unacceptable, although Harvey wanted to confirm that the United States remains a free country."Freedom of drinking should always be allowed, and it is only American to let a guy get drunk where he wants to get drunk," Harvey said.    

[weird al]

I don't know much about the U.S., but I'm sure it's pretty much the same everywhere: you can be arrested for being "drunk" in a public place, whatever that means. Some people can be quite presentable, courteous and well-spoken after consuming a great deal of booze; others can become quite contemptible, even dangerous, after a beer or two. I think the law was obviously conceived to protect the public from those drinkers who get too far-out. But naturally it can be used, like jaywalking, vagrancy and other laws, even speed limits, to bust whomever you feel like busting - like the reporter who got busted for "vagrancy" here (no longer on the books) for walking to the mailbox without his wallet on him. Seems he had written an unflattering article about the cops, and there he was, no ID, no "visible means of support."

   Something that might come in handy: if you're at a party, and the gendarmes come to the door, and you're drunk - don't listen to their suggestion that you go outside to talk to them (because they don't want to disturb the other tenants in the building, or somesuch). Once you're out in the front yard of your building, you are now intoxicated while "at or near a public place" - and eminently bustable.

[soapbox]

problem:

  it is illegal to serve drinks to someone who is already intoxicated while INSIDE the establishment...so when the officer says.."go ahead an dget hammered IF you have a designated driver" is conselling an illegal activity and could put the bar at risk for litigation as well.

  at least up here in BC it is.  

[Future Canadian]

"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."  

That's a hilarious statement. Yeah, we drink alcohol because it tastes good. uh-huh.
Texans are fascists.  
 

[weird al]

It does taste awfully good though.

[Future Canadian]

I guess I wouldn't drink most alcoholic beverages were it not for their effects. But in that context there are plenty of fine tatses.  

[weird al]

There are some egregious mixes, that's fer damshur - like vodka & coke. I knew a guy who drank gin and milk. Gawd!

[Future Canadian]

Gin and milk?!?!?!!!!!
I did not just read that. That's just too bizzarre.