Bar Sweep Sparks ControversySo, in Texas — and no doubt other locations after dim bulb police adminstrators see this article — you can be arrested for drinking in a bar. Of course, it's okay to violate people's rights when you're talking about drunk driving, right? It certainly seems so.
Dallas, March 22. NBC5 News. 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...
Except that Mothers Against Drunk Driving, MADD, has gone from a anti-drunk driving advocacy group to this century's equivalent of Carrie Nation, a bunch of crazed harridans screaming for PROHIBITION. That's what MADD's campaign is all about, really — Demon Rum Destroying the Will of America.
Well, why not? Prohibition worked so well the first time we tried it! Let's face the facts...Old Skol Organized Crime, the Mafia, is on the ropes. Tony Soprano is the last made guy not doing time, writing his memoirs for big bucks or appearing tearfully on Oprah. So it makes sense to reinstitute Prohibition and give the Mob a much-needed shot in the arm. Plus — and here's another harsh fact — with REAL crime down, what are police to do? What could be better than spending billions of dollars to stop the distribution and sale of alcohol, meaning more cops, more axes, more sound bytes — and what's good for both the cops and the Mob must be good for America!
DRINK UP...it's Last Call in Texas!
Why test for blood alcohol level? Just because you've been drinking doesn't mean you'll cause any damage.
ReplyDeleteIf you really care about safety on the road test for that. Test for actually being able to drive in a safe manner. Alcohol testing doesn't do that.
Is said driver competent to drive? That's what you should test for.
Even better: Actually punish people for actually commiting crimes that harm somebody. Just because one doesn't pass an alcohol test shouldn't be a crime. America has *WAY* too many laws that punish people for not actually harming anybody. Not potentially harming somebody. Potential crimes shouldn't be a crime. At least in a free country.
This is waayyyy beyond stupid.
ReplyDeleteEverythings bigger in Texas!
Hopefully, the unemployment roster of former cops will also get bigger with this debacle.
I'm not even close to an expert on Texas law, but around here, "drunk in public" doesn't apply on private property - like say, a bar.
If these sorry excuses for LEO's would have given a half-second of cognizant thought to their stupid sweep, they *might* have realized that all this will do is make people who respect cops, more likely think of them as the prototype of the "Jack Booted Thug."
I'll wager the Prosecuters Office wasn't involved or notified of this. Even scum sucking lawyers aren't that dumb.
*Note to Texas law enforcement:
Next time you want publicity, have the press show you handing out bunnies to kids in the hospital.
(try to get it through your thick skulls - the bunnies should be stuffed toys, NOT gutted rabbits!)
kmitch200
So in Texas (at least in Irving) there's no point in having a "designated driver" in your group, someone who won't be drinking? 'Cause you're all going to get busted anyway, before you even get to the car? Geniuses.
ReplyDeleteWhile disturbing at first, this will have a good ending.
ReplyDeleteThis story will turn out to be exactly, and I do mean exactly like the one about the jackbooted, uh, er, oops, I mean loyal public servants down near Houston about a year ago....remember?
Those officers who ran amok arresting patrons at a nearby Sonic drive-in in an alleged attempt to "enforce the youth curfew?"
Let's see.....In the infamous Sonic bust case, I think that department and city got hit with massive lawsuits, and all sorts of nasty things happened to them.
Same thing will happen here.
Yes, it's an outrage. No it should not have happened.
However, the mental giants behind these acts will pay and pay and then pay some more.
Of course, that means the tax payers in their districts will be on the ones paying.