Being drunk...in a bar.
Martain Anthropologist wrote an excellent blog entry today about the San Antonio police arresting people in bars. This is the article being referenced:
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.
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.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.
"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.
OK, in a bar? What else would you be doing in a bar, cross-stitch? People do stupid things without being drunk as well. Should we all just set up the fortune tellers and decide WHO is going to be arrested?
Come on people, at what point will the police departments start running into to your house because you are nude in your own bedroom? Some of these laws are taken way out of context.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). Many laws should just be dropped all together. Look up your laws and tell someone to take them off the books. For instance, here are three laws in the state of Illinois:
SAN ANTONIO, Texas (Reuters) - Texas has begun sending undercover agents into bars to arrest drinkers for being drunk, a spokeswoman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said on Wednesday.
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.
Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkeness, Beck said.
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
"We feel that the only way we're going to get at the drunk driving problem and the problem of people hurting each other while drunk is by crackdowns like this," she said.
"There are a lot of dangerous and stupid things people do when they're intoxicated, other than get behind the wheel of a car," Beck said. "People walk out into traffic and get run over, people jump off of balconies trying to reach a swimming pool and miss."
She said the sting operations would continue throughout the state.
OK, in a bar? What else would you be doing in a bar, cross-stitch? People do stupid things without being drunk as well. Should we all just set up the fortune tellers and decide WHO is going to be arrested?
Come on people, at what point will the police departments start running into to your house because you are nude in your own bedroom? Some of these laws are taken way out of context.
This brings me to my point (as I almost always have one). Many laws should just be dropped all together. Look up your laws and tell someone to take them off the books. For instance, here are three laws in the state of Illinois:
- You may be arrested for vagrancy if you do not have at least one dollar bill on your person.
- You must contact the police before entering the city in an automobile.
- The English language is not to be spoken.
Are you from Arkansas?
- The Arkansas River can rise no higher than to the Main Street bridge in Little Rock.
- A law provides that school teachers who bob their hair will not get a raise.
- A man can legally beat his wife, but not more than once a month.
Write your state governor, senators, congress and have them pulled!
Did you know...
In Elko, Nevada, city law states that everyone walking the streets is required to wear a mask.
Comments
Does this mean that the microbreweries around the state are illegal?
Also:
In Mesquite, it is illegal for children to have unusual haircuts.
This means that no kids can have mohawks or anything else that might look "cool". I guess they didn't enforce this when the mullet was fashionable!!
Seriously...it's ridiculous that they're going into bars to arrest people! They raided a HOTEL and arrested people in the bar there--and some of them were guests at that hotel!! If you're in a bar and you're drinking water, you're going to get arrested. Why not just ingite all the alcoholic beverages in the state and go back to the dark ages to ban them? We can do Prohibition all over again!!
Meg
It took a court order to expunge his record years later.
what else would they be doing in a bar? knit? pray the rosary? or erm maybe, read?
strange laws and weird ones too. maybe someday they'd arrest somebody for walking around naked in the bathroom.
that law in Illinois about being arrested for vagrancy just because u don't have a dollar in your pocket is a big warning :-D i'llmake sure when i get there, i'd have at least $5. :-P
now here's one law in Nevada that really cracked me up
It is illegal to drive a camel on the highway.