So now it's illegal to be drunk in a bar in Texas?!

[JanMichael]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060322/us_nm/bars_dc

:wtf:

[flamingyouth]

1. Wow, next they'll have to shut down the city of San Marcos

:wtf: indeed

[Fenris]

32. !!!

:rofl:

[misternormal]

2. I guess everyone...

... wants to get on the preemptive express...

I suppose it wouldn't matter if one walked to the bar???

[dsc]

3. technically yes

and furthermore if the bars in question have a habit of permitting drivers to leave drunk I support this move.

[JanMichael]

13. It appears to have NOTHING to do with being site specific.

"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."

How spendidly moral and totally totalitarian.

[Cleita]

26. Considering that only a few decades ago, in Texas, you could

drive around with an open beer can in your hand and drink while you were driving, no one objected when that was made illegal but this is excessive. Most people who like to go to bars to drink in my area know that if they are going to drink they'd best walk, take a bus, a cab or hire a limo for the evening as the local gendarme are very unforgiving of even a whiff of liquor on a driver's breathe. I don't think though that the alchohol board would dare raid a bar to catch people drinking.

:eyes:

[LostinVA]

40. They even raided a HOTEL bar... full of HOTEL patrons

[tammywammy]

43. I thought that was just ridiculous

They aren't planning on driving, they plan on taking an elevator up to their room in the same hotel.

[LostinVA]

45. I know!

[Suich]

4. You can't be drunk in a hotel bar

even if you are staying there!

That's absurd!

[Swamp Rat]

5. HAHA! That's ok.

Bring your dollars to New Orleans, where you can smoke and drink 24/7 in the street, eat BETTER food and hear MORE live music. :)

[Brothaman2k]

12. Here, here!

:party: :toast: :beer:

[bbinacan]

6. Unreal.

I think there are more important things to go after.

[JanMichael]

33. There are but some "lawmaker" in Texas is too stupid, or corrupt, to know.

Crazy is as crazy does I guess.

[wakeme2008]

7. While I do not drink and am against drunk driving

that is one CRAZY law. :grr:

[regnaD kciN]

8. Boy, are the Bush Twins ever going to be in trouble...!

:evilgrin:

[Cleita]

9. Talk about getting into your personal business!

They said it was to keep people from driving home drunk, but many of the people busted were in the bar of the hotel they were staying in. No driving was involved. When are these people going to stop already!

[TahitiNut]

10. Well, since I don't drink or live in Texas, I suppose I should say ...

... "tough shit," huh? Isn't that the new 'left' approach? Maybe I should say something like "drinkers are inherently unable to have a valid opinion on this." Maybe I should say that people should only drink in their own homes, as long as no children are there? Maybe I should take the posture that drinkers cost too much in health care? That they kill and injure thousands every year? That they're 'drinkists' whether they know it or not?

Well ... I won't. :silly:

[JanMichael]

17. Maybe "new Left" but not this DUers "Old Left".

:-)

[Warren DeMontague]

38. Hmmm. Smells like something's burning.

Maybe it's that axe you're grinding as you conflate unrelated subjects. If people who were drinking were by the mere act of drinking alcohol forcing everyone around them to drink as well, the inherent analogy I suspect you're trying to make might fly.

It doesn't.

And, for the record, as long as people don't endanger others, I don't give a shit what they do with their own bodies-- that applies to alcohol as it applies to a slew of things adults should be allowed to consent or not consent to.

Get as drunk as you want, just don't drive.

[TahitiNut]

49. Maybe you could use this ...

[Warren DeMontague]

50. A comb?

You win, man- I'm stumped. :) :o

[NMDemDist2]

11. what's next? no farting in TexMex restaurants?

and I'm a sober alcoholic here, so been on both sides of this issue

[lonestarnot]

16. No puking either!

:puke:

[TomInTib]

20. It's always been the law in Texas since "liquor by the drink" law

was passed.
Before the law was passed, you could carry a bottle into a bar, order "set-ups" and proceed to get as wasted as you wanted.

TABC has pursued and prosecuted this law to the extreme over the years.

I was once arrested for buying a drunk woman a drink. I wasn't even drinking.

on edit - I intended to reply to the OP.

[TahitiNut]

24. I remember those days in San Antonio.

They were "clubs" and only "members" and their guests were allowed in. The waitresses were "members" and many people were her "guests" - if they had an acceptable complexion, of course.

[TomInTib]

27. Back when the "WE Reserve the Right to Refuse Service" signs

were at the door.

Still, Texas was a lot of fun back then.

[lonestarnot]

14. Do I smell litigation?

[Neil Lisst]

15. It's crazy but true. I know someone arrested at a bar for same.

Had drunk one beer.

Got into a disagreement with another customer. Someone called police. He was arrested - for public intoxication.

Now days, if you're in a bar, your legal rights are minimal. If the ownership wants you arrested, you will be. It's more proprietary than principle.

[BlooInBloo]

18. Good. Hope they're ALL nonsmokers too...

fascist bastards.

[SeattleGirl]

22. There we go! Non-smoking, non-drinking bars!

What's next? Foodless restaurants? :eyes:

[JanMichael]

35. Gasless gas stations?

???

[SeattleGirl]

39. Grocery-less grocery stores?

:silly:

[BlooInBloo]

46. whoa. didn't realize i started a 'thing' - LOL

[SeattleGirl]

53. You sure did! How about burgerless hamburgers?

:rofl:

[BlooInBloo]

55. so.... stupid... but.... can't.... help... myself....

A Presidentess presidency!


BWAHAHA!!!!

[suffragette]

44. Bedless bedrooms?

:silly:

[immoderate]

54. Wireless cable?

--IMM

[GodHelpUsAll2]

48. Well

At least in jail they won't have to worry about being exposed to lethal second hand smoke. All the jails are non smoking. Hell it's probably the safest place to be if you are a non smoker.

[The Straight Story]

52. Thank god the government saved them from that - thank bush

since he is responsible for most other things, he is the savior of many on the smoking in bars thing too.

I feel so much safer now...

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

19. Oh. My. Fucking. God.

This is for real. My God. Speechless. Just Speechless...

[TomInTib]

21. I was arrested for buying a drink for a woman who was deemed

"intoxicated" by some overzealous ass from TABC.

I wasn't even drinking.

[jrw14125]

23. they pull this randomly in VA 2 - not the chain bars, just the mom-n-pops

[RB TexLa]

25. I've never understood why it is against the law to be drunk in public

Anyone? If you are drunk and loud then you are disrupting the peace. Or whatever actions you take you are responsible for but why is simply being drunk in public a crime?

[Cleita]

29. This is why bars evolved to begin with, to get the drinkers out

of the eyes of the public, so women and children I guess wouldn't have to witness the rowdy behavior. The problem began when people under the influence tried to operate heavy machinery, like a car.

DH and I stayed in a motel in rural Nevada where the patrons came up on horseback, tethered the horses on a rail outside while they were drinking and rode the horses home afterwards. I guess if they didn't fall off the horse they made it home all right. At least the horse was sober.

[JanMichael]

30. Plus I doubt any RWIs killed anyone else.

Other than the rider:-)

[LostinVA]

41. In many states, riding a horse while drunk will get you a DUI

AS well as riding a bike.

[Idioteque]

28. Reminds me of Ron White

"Sir, you are under arrest for being drunk in public!"

"No, no, no...I was drunk in a bar. They threw me into public. Arrest them!" :P

[lonestarnot]

36. Can't stand that toad or any of his hillbilly comrades.

[Warren DeMontague]

31. Particularly if you've got a vibrator in your purse. n/t

[Warren DeMontague]

34. How about drunk on a ranch while, say, "cutting brush" or eating pretzels?

Clearly some of these people pose a hazard to themselves, not to mention others.

[Rainscents]

37. LOL

:rofl:

[Warren DeMontague]

42. I know enough to stay the fuck out of Texas, & I don't even drink anymore.

I'd probably get lynched for being a man with long hair. :hippie:

[txindy]

58. Oh, absolutely. Just ask Willie Nelson how it felt when they lynched him.

;)

[Warren DeMontague]

59. Willie's pretty cool. But context is everything.

When I drove through the Panhandle in the 80s with hippie hair and a Japanese car covered with Dead stickers and various left-wing slogans, lets just say I didn't feel as warmly welcomed as, say, a Country legend might have...

(Standard Edit Disclaimer: I'm being a little facetious, pokin' fun. No harm meant. It must be tough enough having serious-minded legislators outlawing drunkenness and vibrators and whatnot. Lotta great stuff has come out of Texas, Austin's music scene is great.... Any state that produced both Willie Nelson AND Gibby Haynes can't be all bad)

[txindy]

60. Ah, the Panhandle.

Yeah, I can see that happening. No offense taken, though. Just thought it was kind of amusing. ;)

[mcscajun]

47. I don't even get drunk, but there's just one more reason NOT to visit TX

Like I needed another one. No offense to our TX brothers and sisters, but the only place in TX I could ever see visiting is Austin...for the music and the chicken fried steak. :)

I've been to San Antonio already, so Yes, I've seen the Alamo and the Riverwalk. Very Nice.

[Lethe]

51. they been doing this for a while now in TX with different tactics

there are cops checking ids at the front of the bar, and also the cops now wait outside the bars at 2am, and they follow anyone who looks drunk. Some bars here warn patrons when 2am rolls around, because they are out there, waiting.

[Tsiyu]

56. There's a country song there somewhere n/t

[w8liftinglady]

57. lol...funny-we have several drinking liberally groups in this area:)