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Incremental Fascism.....

R

roscoe

New Member
Joined
Feb 20, 2006
Messages
80
So you think the smoke Nazi's are the only ones infringing on rights? Check this out...

Bar Sweep Sparks Controversy

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.

Full story at http://www.nbc5i.com/news/8169246/detail.html
 
WOW! That's a new one. Public intoxication charges in a bar!
I just hope that one of these folks fights it hard enough to make a stand against this sort of over-reaching.
 
This may just be me but it seems that in general our law enforcement is there more for the sake of punishing then serving. I recall the story’s I’ve herd from my parents and several folks that if you where too drunk to drive back when they where younger the police would take you home, call you a cab or call someone to come get you. Now it seems if you even approach an officer while intoxicated your ass is going to jail. Even in Europe the officers will still see to it that intoxicated people get home safely or even let them walk home instead of a one-way trip to jail. I’m by not means trying to bash anyone in law enforcement, they’re just doing their job and I totally understand that. But as a community when to we realize that’s their other ways of protecting the public then punishing them. I find more people are afraid to walk home then drive because they’re afraid of being picked up and taken in. I just think it would be safer for everyone if we offered alternatives. There’s a free cab service offered in an area some friends live in that will take you home if you’re too drunk. They don’t have any real safety issues there.
 
You know, I was just thinking about this some more, and this is a thread destined to go down the toilet.

Roscoe - Please read the description of what Lobby posts should and should not include.
 
Gonz said:
You know, I was just thinking about this some more, and this is a thread destined to go down the toilet.

Roscoe - Please read the description of what Lobby posts should and should not include.
Click to expand...

Mmm you may be correct, perhaps I should edit my post. Though I fear I may be chastised….
 
Unfortunately this is another example of our nanny society. The trend lately has been for society to decide for free thinking adults what is right and what is wrong. I really dislike this but what can one person do?
 
Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.
It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies.
The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated:
but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

Written by C.S. Lewis
 
Mrepp said:
This may just be me but it seems that in general our law enforcement is there more for the sake of punishing then serving. I recall the story’s I’ve herd from my parents and several folks that if you where too drunk to drive back when they where younger the police would take you home, call you a cab or call someone to come get you. Now it seems if you even approach an officer while intoxicated your ass is going to jail. Even in Europe the officers will still see to it that intoxicated people get home safely or even let them walk home instead of a one-way trip to jail. I’m by not means trying to bash anyone in law enforcement, they’re just doing their job and I totally understand that. But as a community when to we realize that’s their other ways of protecting the public then punishing them. I find more people are afraid to walk home then drive because they’re afraid of being picked up and taken in. I just think it would be safer for everyone if we offered alternatives. There’s a free cab service offered in an area some friends live in that will take you home if you’re too drunk. They don’t have any real safety issues there.
Click to expand...


I think there is some truth to your statements. Times are way too serious and in some places they are quick to put you in jail for anything. Mostly in suburbs were they are trying to "get rid of the riff-raff". Zero tolerance ussually goes hand in hand with zero common sence. Sometimes it is more about revenue for the city than right and wrong. Of course here in Chicago they have real problems and leave the average guy alone. Times have changed and I don't think for the better. Don't think I'm against the police, my life absolutely requires them if I'm going to stay safe. Gangs run rampant and people are murdered on the street for five dollars. This is a larger problem with society. Overpopulation brings more idiots and more problems for the rest of us.
 
Drunk driving is a problem, period. :angry: I live in Austin, a city that has one of the largest bar districts and college populations in the nation. Our DWI arrests number in the thousands and that number gets larger each year. Half our traffic deaths are caused by impaired drivers. The unfortunate part of impaired driving is that it affects those who have nothing to do with it the most.

I work in the biz of putting people back together that have wrecked themselves and others because of impaired driving. As a medic-in-training I hate traffic accident calls with a passion, mostly because it presents the most danger to us. I have heard too many stories from medics and firefighters about the horror of traffic accidents. At every traffic accident call my ass-pucker dial is turned all the way up. I may not like the traffic calls, but I do them because it is part of the job. Every weekend I know someone is usually going to die or be seriously injured on the interstate that goes through town, and we gotta go help them out.

Elements of our society are just not responsible enough to handle themselves, therefore endangering the lives of everyone on the road and those responsible for attending to traffic accidents. I'm not saying these arrests are the best thing to curb impaired driving, but America needs to get real and throw the book at these people. Maybe then people will start to take responsibility. Until then I applaud our police officers for making their DWI arrests and making the roads safer for the rest of us.
 
Peekay said:
Drunk driving is a problem, period. :angry: I live in Austin, a city that has one of the largest bar districts and college populations in the nation. Our DWI arrests number in the thousands and that number gets larger each year. Half our traffic deaths are caused by impaired drivers. The unfortunate part of impaired driving is that it affects those who have nothing to do with it the most.

I work in the biz of putting people back together that have wrecked themselves and others because of impaired driving. As a medic-in-training I hate traffic accident calls with a passion, mostly because it presents the most danger to us. I have heard too many stories from medics and firefighters about the horror of traffic accidents. At every traffic accident call my ass-pucker dial is turned all the way up. I may not like the traffic calls, but I do them because it is part of the job. Every weekend I know someone is usually going to die or be seriously injured on the interstate that goes through town, and we gotta go help them out.

Elements of our society are just not responsible enough to handle themselves, therefore endangering the lives of everyone on the road and those responsible for attending to traffic accidents. I'm not saying these arrests are the best thing to curb impaired driving, but America needs to get real and throw the book at these people. Maybe then people will start to take responsibility. Until then I applaud our police officers for making their DWI arrests and making the roads safer for the rest of us.
Click to expand...

This post hit home with me. My mom was killed by a drunk driver in 1983.

Thanks for what you do, Peekay! :thumbs:
 
Mrepp said:
This may just be me but it seems that in general our law enforcement is there more for the sake of punishing then serving. I recall the story’s I’ve herd from my parents and several folks that if you where too drunk to drive back when they where younger the police would take you home, call you a cab or call someone to come get you. Now it seems if you even approach an officer while intoxicated your ass is going to jail. Even in Europe the officers will still see to it that intoxicated people get home safely or even let them walk home instead of a one-way trip to jail. I’m by not means trying to bash anyone in law enforcement, they’re just doing their job and I totally understand that. But as a community when to we realize that’s their other ways of protecting the public then punishing them. I find more people are afraid to walk home then drive because they’re afraid of being picked up and taken in. I just think it would be safer for everyone if we offered alternatives. There’s a free cab service offered in an area some friends live in that will take you home if you’re too drunk. They don’t have any real safety issues there.
Click to expand...


You really don't know what you are talking about. You ever here of liability lawsuits? I have.

If law enforcement comes into contact with an intoxicated person in public and lets him go some courts have decided the officer is responsible for the drunks actions. If the drunk goes out and crashes his his car and kills your family the officer could be held liable...Not to mention the officer having to live with the fact he could have prevented this tragedy. If you let a drunk walk home and he gets run over...Gues who is liable?

I once worked a domestic call. It involved a drunk I had just allowed to get a ride home with a sober friend. I later found out he had just got off the phone with his wife. He told her he was comming home to burn the house down. I got the call and found him pouring gasoline around his house. Someone could have died as a result of me being a nice guy.

I'm lucky this worked out all right.

I have a problem with going into bars and arresting every drunk in the bar...But I have no problem going into one and arresting those that are causing a disturbance or underage.

Taking drunks of the street is good business. It protects you and your family...What could possibly be the problem with that?
 
Good points Cigarsarge! Definitely something to think about. Taking drunks off of the streets has many beneficial aspects I'm sure. But what about the poor guy on vacation in a hotel in Texas having a few drinks and enjoying himself peacefully and then next thing he knows he's in jail. That is the point of the original post I believe not that everyone should have the right to drive drunk and make a nuisance of themselves. I'm glad we are all still talking about this civilly. :)
 
This is most definitely a touchy topic, despite the incredibly asinine over-stepping of bounds involved with the original poster's story (thank the politicians in an election year for trying to appease the lobbyists by making the police do borderline raids like this).

The idea of raiding bars as a "proactive measure" (one of the most idiotic excuses people in power use to rationalize their attempts to invalidate US citizen's rights) is something the Texas locals need to address by going through the proper channels in their locale's system. The people arrested in the hotel that were staying there now have valid legal issues with that agency, and hopefully will have the balls to stand up for themselves and file lawsuits to help keep things like this in check (sadly, it's more likely they'll be happy just getting the charges dropped).

Anyone caught driving drunk deserves to go to jail. Period. Any dolt who thinks otherwise deserves what karma will dish out. (this comes from someone who hasn't driven in 5 years because of an incident-free DWI). It's bad enough the majority of people arrested for DWI blame everyone else but themselves for getting arrested and the resulting punishments and hassle they go through, but to criticize the police for doing what they are told and paid to do is just wrong.
 
If I've had more than two drinks, I drive only golf cars...on my own property.

Bars are private property. So is my property.

TABC agents and Irving police swept through 36 Irving bars and arrested about 30 people on charges of public intoxication.
Click to expand...

It's not public drunkenness. It's inside a private building. Licensed to sell aforementioned legal adult beverage. It would be illegal out on the street.

Will they next arrest hunters for discharging a firearm during hunting season?
Or at the local trap club?

Alcohol is a legal substance. So is tobacco. So are guns. All are restricted as to amount, and as to age. As it should be.(full auto requires special licenses and taxes, smoking is Verboten in certain areas, underage people are not allowed any of the above, and DUI is on par with child porn in my book, but that's just me.)

Marijuana is illegal. Everywhere in the USA. Anywhere. Alcohol consumption in a licensed establishment, by an adult, is not.

There is a disconnect here.

Can you say "power trip?"

<Tumbleweed the citizen>
 
Medical Marijuana is legal depending on location and whom you are asking.

Just another example of "cowboyism" only on the local scale this time.

Tumbleweed said:
Marijuana is illegal. Everywhere in the USA. Anywhere.

<Tumbleweed the citizen>
Click to expand...
 
It would be interesting to know the level of intoxication of those arrested in Texas. Were they passed out at the table? Were they loud? Gotta have some PC somewhere.

The public intoxication statute in Tennessee has three requirments. Causing a disturbance, danger to himself, and a danger to others. Texas statute probably has the same requirements.
 
Sarge you are right there had to be other PC for the arrest as you know drunk in a bar is not a crime. Not where I work. But interfering that sound like a good charge. :laugh: As far as serving the public we do we are glorified secretaries with guns doing what we are told.
 
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