http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3744380.html This is absolutely nuts. In an effort to cut down on drunk driving, Texas is now busting people who are drunk at the hotel bar in which they are staying. The one which they walked to and are walking back from. Via the hallway and the elevator. The most idiotic part about this is that actual Drunk Drivers are not being stopped, because they didn't "Look drunk." Science has proven that drunk driving becomes a problem at low levels, levels which these cops didn't even check, so the real danger is being ignored, while some poor bartender has her life ruined. So, it's okay to drink and drive in Texas as long as you don't appear to be having a good time at the bar beforehand. A person like me can drink four drinks in an hour and shouldn't (and I wouldn't) drive. But, I wouldn't act like a drunken fool either, so as I stood in the bar full of Cops making busts, I would be free to go to my car and drive home! Maybe they should change their name from "Mothers Against Drunk Driving" to "Mothers Against Drunk Drinking." http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/3744380.html Nate
Just what in the Heck is going on in the Great State of Texas?! First you unleash Mr. Bush upon the world and now this? You're all NUTS!! [Edit] Google News had these other sites: http://www.kfdx.com/news/default.asp?mode=shownews&id=11390 http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/...?articleID=7128
When I first heard about that, all I could think is that the tourism industry there must be very upset. Whenever I visit San Antonio, TX I always worry about having a few too many drinks and stumbling into the Riverwalk because it doesn't have any guardrails. Now I know that I won't have to worry about falling, because I would have a police escort. I wonder if they do those goofy field sobriety tests in the bar... if so, will they have to have people posted outside to catch other patrons trying to run away.
This reminds me of Ireland. When I was living over there, it was explained to me that the reason pubs are so popular is that the British government made it illegal for people to congregate i private residences - for fear of plotting another uprising. So people met and hung out in pubs to socialize. When it's illegal to drink in bars, people will stop at the drive-through liquor store, pick up a few cases and get hammered in their buddy's house. From there, they'll drive home. The population will adjust accordingly and in this case, what appears to be a drop in drinking due to reduced bar attednance will merely be the decentralization of alcohol consumption. And when people are getting drunk in private residences, it will be much harder to monitor.
Here is another perspective for you. It has, for many years, been illegal in Ohio to be intoxicated in public, period. Bar owners are licensed by the state and the license prohibits you from serving intoxicated customers. If police come into a bar and see an intoxcated person, whaddya want, we sit and wait for hours for them to get into their car and drive BEFORE we cand do something. Modify your point of view. Drinking in a bar or any permit location does not necessitate getting drunk. I am surprised this is a NEW law for Texas.
Same goes here in Fla. Public intoxication, one can even get a DUI for riding thier bicycle and being drunk.. Here they stop serving any type of alcohol after 2am. Im glad to see it high 5 to Texas..!! Now for more usless information: Other strange laws in Fla. Statewide: It is illegal to sell your children Corrupting the public morals is defined as a nuisance, and is declared a misdemeanor offense Unmarried couples may not commit "lewd acts" and live together in the same residence. You may not kiss your wife's breasts. oral sex is illegal One may not commit any "unnatural acts" with another person. When having sex, only the missionary position is legal. Having sexual relations with a porcupine is illegal. Penalty for horse theft is death by hanging. It is considered an offense to shower naked in public. It is illegal to block any traveled wagon road. Women may be fined for falling asleep under a hair dryer, as can the salon owner. If an elephant is left tied to a parking meter, the parking fee has to be paid just as it would for a vehicle. It is illegal to sing in a public place while attired in a swimsuit. You may not fart in a public place after 6 P.M. on Thursdays. Men may not be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown. It is illegal to skateboard without a license. A special law prohibits unmarried women from parachuting on Sunday or she shall risk arrest, fine, and/or jailing. City ord in addition to State laws: Big Pine Key It is illegal to molest a Key deer. If caught one will be fined or will have to go to jail. Cape Coral It is against the city ordinance to hang your clothes outside on a clothesline. Daytona Beach Sec. 10-56. While intoxicated, under influence of narcotics, prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person to swim or bathe in that portion of the Atlantic Ocean within the corporate limits of the city when under the influence of intoxicating liquor or narcotic drugs to the extent that his or her normal faculties are impaired. (Code 1955, ? 28-64) Sec. 22-44. Storage, depositing prohibited. It shall be unlawful for any person, either as owner, occupant, lessee, agent, tenant, or otherwise, to store or deposit, or cause or permit to be stored or deposited, any abandoned, junked or discarded motor vehicle or motor vehicles upon any public or private property within the city. (Code 1955, ? 20-11) The molestation of trash cans is banned. Hialeah Ambling and strolling is a misdemeanor. Key West Chickens are considered a 'protected species'. Miami Sec. 8-3. Bell or other warning device. No person shall operate a bicycle unless it is equipped with a bell or device capable of giving a signal audible for a distance of at least 100 feet, but no bicycle shall be equipped with, nor shall any person use upon a bicycle, any siren or whistle. (Code 1967, ? 8-3; Code 1980, ? 8-3) It is illegal for men to be seen publicly in any kind of strapless gown. Pensacola A women can be fined (only after death), for being electrocuted in a bath-tub because of using self-beautification utensils. It is illegal to roll a barrel on any street, fines go up according to the contents of the barrel. Citizens may not be caught downtown without at least 10 dollars on their person. Sanford Stage nudity is banned, with the exception of "bona fide" theatrical performances. Violating this ordinance results in a $100 fine. Sarasota You may not catch crabs. If you hit a pedestrian you are fined $78.00. Tampa Bay It is illegal to eat cottage cheese on Sunday after 6:00 P.M. I think its been sometime since these where enforced but they are still on the books ...
I used to think that an effective way to reduce drunken driving would be to outlaw parking lots for bars. But thinking this through brought me to my senses. Were such a prohibition passed here in the great innovative state of CA, the state that invented drive-thru churches and drive-thru funeral parlors, a new industry of drive-thru bars would quickly arise and make us all wonder why we kept all those archaic parking lots in the first place. So now I'm all for parking lots for bars, the larger the better. Just so long as they all have those tire puncturing spike security grates at the exits! Mark Baird Alameda CA
as long as they don't come banging down the door to private homes because there may or may not be alcohol inside...
I understand your point. However, it really seems like your ticketing someone for what they might do. Say I drink more than I intended to when I'm out with friends, so I'm drunk in the bar. You don't know that I drove to this bar. Maybe I had another friend drive because I knew I might have too much to drink. Maybe I live in walking distance to the bar. Maybe I'll take a cab or a bus home. I just feel like there are other laws (i.e. DUI, disturbing the peace, etc.) that are meant to combat the dangerous/obnoxious things that some people do while drunk. Why punish people that are having a good time and have done nothing wrong (by most people/states' standards)?
Okay, how about checking people as they leave the bar and get into their cars? I am all about eliminating Drunk Driving. I would be in favor of a built-in breathalyzer on all new cars before I am in favor of busting "pre-crime" a la Minority Report style, sans the crystal ball. Cops go through training of how to handle people, how to choose their words and phrases to elicit the answers they want. They can also tell when people are lying. What would be wrong with going into a bar, and offering to call in taxis for intoxicated patrons? Anyone who becomes beligerent becomes cited and hauled in for public intoxication. I have a friend who lives downtown Denver near the Light Rail stop. On weekends, he frequently gets drunk downtown, and rides the train home. Why is this a problem? In college, my buddies and I used to go downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan, get liquored up at the club, then take a taxi back to my buddies house where we slept it off. I don't think this should be illegal. Nate
I think the spirit of concept is to bust people that are a little more than simply "drunk", however you might define that... Obviously, if you can still walk out of a place without bumping into walls, or needing to hold onto something, you may be drunk, but, at the very least, you're not as drunk/impaired as the guy who can't. Personally, I have no pity for those whom choose to get spectacularly drunk within the public realm, and get written up for it, or taken away to jail to sober up. Drunk drivers kill a spectacular amount of people, I'm for almost any method, short of gestapo-ish pre-crime anticipation...
CA is now proposing a DUI license plates. Any person caught with 2 or more DUI will require his/her car be registered for DUI plates. I am against DUI and all. But how the hell can enforce this without taking the right away from the offenders' family rights too. My kid/wife needs to use my car... (1) you cannot ban the family from driving it. (2) And you should not "Scarlet Letter" his wife/kid for your sin.
Sounds like a blah place to live. I hardly drink anymore. I think it's OK to drink as long as you aren't in a motor vehicle or causing trouble in public. I've been to Key West many times and the cops are very cool as long as you are. Of course Key West is a big party town and they live off the tourists. The chickens walk the streets along with the humans. Every night at sunset everyone goes down to the pier and enjoys street performers, booze, and other odditys. I've actually seen people smoking joints out in the open in Key West and nobody bothers them. If I win lotto I will buy a place there to live. As far as Texas goes, everything I hear seems to be negative except about the Castle law. I wonder why elected officials are being so picky about people in bars as long as they aren't driving. Does anyone know if they break balls over weed in Texas?
The law is not new. What is new is the ramping up of the level of enforcement of the law in the hopes of curbing drunken driving. I'm not saying it can't help but how far should we go in terms of enforcement? And is this really addressing the problem of drunken driving when you hand out tickets to people who were responsible enough to have a designated driver? What about those that got drunk and don't even have a car? I guess one can say, "the law is the law" but that can be dangerous as a philosophy because then you aren't really asking about what the law is there for. I think the intent of this sting operation is good but somewhat misguided when people who have designated drivers and people staying at hotels with no intent of driving are getting ticketed in an effort to prevent drunk driving. To twist the public drunkeness law into a law that in which it is really a "law for penalizing potential drunk drivers based on being drunk in public irregardless of whether or not the individual can or would actually drive" is wrong. Well, I guess in order for it to be fair, they will make sure that there are lots of undercover officers in the hotel ballroom to hand out tickets to the drunken people at the governor's daughter's wedding even though they came with DD's or are staying overnight at the hotel.
