Posted 3/26/2006 01:41:00 PM by Douglas

More on the TABC's crackdown of people drinking in bars.

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission program, designed to stem public intoxication and drunken driving, has resulted in more than 2,200 arrests or citations since it began in August.

But the program has been criticized after news reports following the most recent busts, at 30 Dallas-area bars this month.

"I'm getting all those same e-mails, the Nazi, Taliban, Gestapo e-mails," said commission spokeswoman Carolyn Beck. "I don't really understand the hateful outrage. I don't understand, 'Die in a fire.' "

What's not to get?

"Somebody hanging around the hotel, a little stumbling on the way to their room? I don't think that was what we were focusing on," said Rep. Peggy Hamric, R-Houston, who authored a proposed rewrite of the statute authorizing the agency.

"We're looking at it and we're going to be looking at it: Are we going too far, or do we need to go further?" the Mission Democrat said.

"Need to go further?" How is that even possible? Would the TABC go into people's homes to see if they're drinking and thinking about driving? What about liquor stores? Is the sale of alcohol going to be illegal because you may take it home, drink it, and then drive to Taco Cabana? But the dumbest statement of skewed logic goes to Senator John Whitmire:

Sen. John Whitmire, a Houston Democrat and member of both the powerful Senate Finance Committee and the Criminal Justice Committee that oversees the commission, defended the principle of in-bar citations.

"Even though a public drunk is not planning on driving, that could change in an instant," he said. "There is certainly potential danger."

Get that? 2,200 people have been arrested in Texas since August for a potential danger. How does someone elected by the people to represent their interests justify locking up their constituents for doing something that might lead to criminal behaviour?

The commission also points out that being drunk in public, even in a place licensed to sell alcohol, is against the law.

"We can't ignore somebody who's obviously breaking the law," Beck said.

Another good question. Isn't a bar a 'private' business? I don't know what distinction makes it a 'public' place, but it's definitely located on 'private' property. So why can the TABC walk in and take you to jail for doing nothing more than having one too many.

Also, a long-time reader points out that the TABC's budget is in the same pot as the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and they are struggling. So I was wrong when I said the TABC funding increase was starving children. It's closing state parks. But 2,200 people thrown in jail makes a helluva lot more money for the state than Palo Dura Canyon does, and really, isn't that what it's all about?