Last month, we ran a post about Texas arresting people for being drunk while still in the bar, even if they have no intention of driving. Apparently, they read Dvorak Uncensored, because the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has issued a reply to the criticism from the public. The TV station that reported the sting operation even found a bar owner who likes the new enforcement.
The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission’s public intoxication sting program hit the national spotlight in recent days, which has resulted in negative responses from people nationwide. On Friday, TABC put a special link on its website in response to the criticism.
In November, NewsChannel 11 went with TABC officers on a public intoxication sting. During the operation, officers go into bars and arrest people who are drunk. Fontes says TABC’s presence in recent months has helped patrons become more conscience of drinking too much in public.
The point of the program is to help keep bartenders from over serving. The past couple months at Bleachers they say it’s been working.
“Basically, the whole point is we don’t want them getting on the road after having too much to drink and hurting somebody else,” said Fontes.
Here’s the response from the TABC. You’ll need Acrobat to open this document.
I used to work regularly with the TABC and they have a unofficial policy of only hiring agents that do not drink, typically for religious reasons. The result is that most of employees of TABC have a genuine distain for anyone who consumes alcohol. Also, most of their officers believe in following the letter of the law as opposed to its spirit.
Please define “public intoxication”.
From the pdf:
“A person commits an offense if the person appears in a public place while intoxicated to the degree that the person may endanger the person or another.” “’Public place’ means any place to which the public or a substantial group of the public has access”
C’mon! Gee, what are the odds of finding someone drunk in a bar?!! This is another example of a government agency imposing the morality of its leadership on the common man. What about if you have a designated driver? You can’t get drunk then even if you’ve planned to have your designated driver pour you in the car and drive you safely home?