Texas- No Getting Drunk In A Bar

My own aversion to alcohol aside, I really wish this was a joke. But as always, Texas is redefining reality as we know it.

In a sting operation, police officers have been raiding bars and arresting drunks "before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car." Because evidently being drunk in a bar counts as public intoxication.

Yeah.
CNN

Sheesh! With that mindset, how much farther away can prohibition be?

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No, I don't think so. Homes are more complicated than places of business. Especially in this case, where the pizza guy isn't a cop with a warrant.

I should leave this to brdlwyr until I actually go to law school, though. If I go to law school.

Updated On: 3/23/06 at 11:21 AM

Plum - they're circling the whole 'private home' designation - some smoking bans here include private balconies if they are near public areas.

Are you in Texas? Are you in a bar?

I didn't think so.

Listen, a cop can't come to arrest you in your house without a warrant. You think they're going to wake up a judge for a public drunkeness charge for...someone who's in their house? BS. This doesn't apply to your situation at all.

So the next time I'm in Texas, where should I go to get drunk?

I was joking, Plum. I don't live in Texas, although I do live in a bar.

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I just hope the thirty people who got arrested (and the owners of the bars they were arrested in) get good lawyers and fight this. There's no way this could hold up in a court, but ALLOWING it to happen would just open the door to all kinds of violations of our rights.

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What happens to the bartenders who over-served these people in the first place?

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I was listening to the news earlier this morning. A cop was called to a domestic disturbance 911 call earlier the other morning, in which the wife (and victim) said that her husband was abusing her and had cocaine in the house.

The cops came, without a warrant (duh). The man told them to go away, but they arrest him anyway.

I had to leave the room, but when I came back, I heard the end of it.

Since the cops didn't have a warrant, the man was released. The Supreme Court said that a cop MUST have a warrant to enter a home and arrest someone. If a cop is at your doorstep, wanting to come in, and someone (even the abuser) says "No", even if it is a domestic disturbance case, they cannot come in.

If I'm not going to get helped, why would I trust 911?

Crazy huh.