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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 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 drunkenness, 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.
Full Version: Texans can't get drunk in bars
They need to go to a Longhorns/Aggies football game.
They could arrest 30,000 people...
They could arrest 30,000 people...
I see a lot of Texans moving out of the state once they sober up...
Oklahomo, beware!
Oklahomo, beware!
QUOTE(sin city @ Mar 23 2006, 12:33 PM) [snapback]48664[/snapback]
I see a lot of Texans moving out of the state once they sober up...
Oklahomo, beware!
They won't be going there
you can only get near beer in OK
QUOTE(The Priest @ Mar 23 2006, 10:34 AM) [snapback]48667[/snapback]
They won't be going there
you can only get near beer in OK
then it's off to Mexico...cerveza mas fina
Just wait til this catches on around the country. They've pretty much elimated smoking, drinking is the next "evil" to put an end to.
QUOTE(AlkalineDrown @ Mar 23 2006, 10:38 AM) [snapback]48673[/snapback]
Just wait til this catches on around the country. They've pretty much elimated smoking, drinking is the next "evil" to put an end to.
"I knew you fuckers would come around!"
QUOTE(AlkalineDrown @ Mar 23 2006, 10:38 AM) [snapback]48673[/snapback]
Just wait til this catches on around the country. They've pretty much elimated smoking, drinking is the next "evil" to put an end to.
I'm kind of looking forward to it. I've always wanted to go to a speak-easy and listen to some hot jazz.
QUOTE(nobodies @ Mar 23 2006, 10:43 AM) [snapback]48679[/snapback]
I'm kind of looking forward to it. I've always wanted to go to a speak-easy and listen to some hot jazz.
That would be pretty cool. Bring it.
Reason #38454 why I have to get the heck out of this state and I don't even drink. 
QUOTE
The goal, she said, was to detain drunks before they leave a bar and go do something dangerous like drive a car.
This part kinda scares me. Detaining people on the assumption that they might do something dangerous? How exactly do they determine who is sufficiently drunk enough to be detained? They guy slurring his words? The girl dancing like Elaine from Seinfeld? This is crazy.
It is sad really. All these wars we make on oppressed countries to bring them FREEDOM!, and here we are becoming one step by step.
OK, halfway there. They just need to pass a law to keep Texans from running for or being appointed to federal office, and we're set.
Texas man faces death for abandoning, well, Texas
Prosecutors, judge, family insist convert should die
By Kim Barker
Tribune southern correspondent
Published March 23, 2006
PLANO, Texas -- Ronnie Rayburn told his family he was a Democrat. He told the neighbors, bringing shame upon his home. But then he told the police, and he could no longer be ignored.
Now, in a major test of Texas's oppressive court system, Rayburn, 35, faces the death penalty for abandoning Texas for the liberals. Prosecutors say he should die. So do his family, his jailers, even the judge. Rayburn has no lawyer. Jail officials refused to let anyone see Rayburn on Monday, despite permission granted by the state's justice minister.
"We will cut him into little pieces," said Georgina Hayes, who works at the jail, as she made a cutting motion with her hands. "There's no need to see him."
Rayburn's trial, which started Thursday, is thought to be the first of its kind in Texas. It goes to the heart of the struggle between reformists and fundamentalists in the state, which is still thriving after 161 years of arrogance despite the governance from Washington, a regime with many similar goals promoting the Christian Right.
Even under the more moderate government now in power, Texas law is supposed to be followed, and many believe it requires the death penalty for anyone who leaves Texas pretentiousness for another state of mind.
"We are the best, our fathers were the best, our grandfathers were the best, and their grandfathers kicked the snot out of Mexico," said Reggie Rayburn, Ronnie's father, who is 75. "This is an proud country, err, state.. Imagine if your son told a police officer, also a Texan, that he is a liberal and supports something like abortion rights. How would this affect you? It's very difficult for us."
All of Texas remains conservative and religious. But Christian values are violated in Texas every day--whether by alcohol being sold openly on the streets, big brother picking up drunks in bars, or by peaceful Christians declaring their own Holy War back at the Jihadists from the middle east.
Many Christian scholars believe that Texans who convert from Christianity should be killed, but liberal and moderate scholars disagree. One Texan liberal scholar, Joe David Jones, spent almost three months in jail last fall after publishing a magazine challenging many traditional views on Texan law, including the belief that Christians who convert to other beliefs deserve to die.
Most Texans are Christian--only a few are publicly Jewish or atheist. Islamists are rare and prefer to hide their religion. Texan Islamists have no church, and foreigners worship either in small groups, or at embassies or military bases.
Rev. Giuseppe Moretti, who ministers to Islamists in Texas, said he has heard of some Texas Islamists who converted in northern, more liberal states, but most keep that secret once they come back. No Texans worship under him.
"I hope this man is not condemned," Moretti said. "It's a very delicate situation."
Rayburn and his family have a history of problems. Reggie said his son never worked, beat up blacks and was mostly a drunk. "I never fought against his actions, that was the way I was raised and I turned out just fine."
Rayburn left Texas shortly after both of his daughters, now 12 and 13, were molested by the local pastor. He and his wife divorced. While on sabbatical, Rayburn discovered a new way of thinking. He returned to Texas about three years ago and moved back in with his father and daughters. He left for months at a time, working at a restaurant or as a security guard, or simply to attend protests of the war.
He stayed with cousins, who asked him to leave after he said he was a liberal. Eventually, Rayburn moved back with his father.
"He is my son," said Reggie, crying. "But if a son does not care about the dignity of his family, the dignity of his father, God can take him away. You cannot make anything out of such a son. He is useless." Ronnie replied to his father, "I DON'T WANT YOUR LIFE."
He complained about Ronnie's behavior to local police, but did not mention his idealistic conversion. At first, police asked the family to try to resolve its own problems. Then in early February, Rayburn showed up at the police station and complained about how his family treated him. While there, he announced he had become a liberal.
Police said they had no choice except sending the case to central police command.
"We knew he had converted, but we didn't want to get involved in religious issues," said Col. Jessie Parker,the deputy commander of the police district. "So we filed a report on the family's problems to send to the central police. And he insisted over and over, `Please write in my file that I denounce this state.'"
On Thursday, the first day of the trial, Rayburn appeared in court with no lawyer, he seemed intelligent enough to defend himself. Prosecutor Monica Clark said Rayburn had been told repeatedly to repent and come back to the "Texas way of things" as she flashed him the hook-em horns, but Rayburn refused. Clark called Rayburn a traitor.
"He is known as a microbe in society, and he should be cut off and removed from the rest of Texas society and should be killed," Clark told the court.
Rayburn said he has no God. "I believe in the mind," he said. "I believe in education. And I am a Free Man."
Judge Stevie Tucker, who is handling the case, said he normally takes two months to decide on cases. But because this case is so serious, he expected to hold another hearing within the next week and make a decision.
Tucker, who kept Rayburn's copy of "The Origin of the Species" on his desk, said he respected all beliefs. He emphasized that he did not favor the aggressiveness of the Bush Clan, who cut the hands and feet off criminals in a soccer stadium. But he said Rayburn had to repent.
"If he doesn't regret his conversion, the punishment will be enforced on him," the judge said. "And the punishment is death."
Prosecutors, judge, family insist convert should die
By Kim Barker
Tribune southern correspondent
Published March 23, 2006
PLANO, Texas -- Ronnie Rayburn told his family he was a Democrat. He told the neighbors, bringing shame upon his home. But then he told the police, and he could no longer be ignored.
Now, in a major test of Texas's oppressive court system, Rayburn, 35, faces the death penalty for abandoning Texas for the liberals. Prosecutors say he should die. So do his family, his jailers, even the judge. Rayburn has no lawyer. Jail officials refused to let anyone see Rayburn on Monday, despite permission granted by the state's justice minister.
"We will cut him into little pieces," said Georgina Hayes, who works at the jail, as she made a cutting motion with her hands. "There's no need to see him."
Rayburn's trial, which started Thursday, is thought to be the first of its kind in Texas. It goes to the heart of the struggle between reformists and fundamentalists in the state, which is still thriving after 161 years of arrogance despite the governance from Washington, a regime with many similar goals promoting the Christian Right.
Even under the more moderate government now in power, Texas law is supposed to be followed, and many believe it requires the death penalty for anyone who leaves Texas pretentiousness for another state of mind.
"We are the best, our fathers were the best, our grandfathers were the best, and their grandfathers kicked the snot out of Mexico," said Reggie Rayburn, Ronnie's father, who is 75. "This is an proud country, err, state.. Imagine if your son told a police officer, also a Texan, that he is a liberal and supports something like abortion rights. How would this affect you? It's very difficult for us."
All of Texas remains conservative and religious. But Christian values are violated in Texas every day--whether by alcohol being sold openly on the streets, big brother picking up drunks in bars, or by peaceful Christians declaring their own Holy War back at the Jihadists from the middle east.
Many Christian scholars believe that Texans who convert from Christianity should be killed, but liberal and moderate scholars disagree. One Texan liberal scholar, Joe David Jones, spent almost three months in jail last fall after publishing a magazine challenging many traditional views on Texan law, including the belief that Christians who convert to other beliefs deserve to die.
Most Texans are Christian--only a few are publicly Jewish or atheist. Islamists are rare and prefer to hide their religion. Texan Islamists have no church, and foreigners worship either in small groups, or at embassies or military bases.
Rev. Giuseppe Moretti, who ministers to Islamists in Texas, said he has heard of some Texas Islamists who converted in northern, more liberal states, but most keep that secret once they come back. No Texans worship under him.
"I hope this man is not condemned," Moretti said. "It's a very delicate situation."
Rayburn and his family have a history of problems. Reggie said his son never worked, beat up blacks and was mostly a drunk. "I never fought against his actions, that was the way I was raised and I turned out just fine."
Rayburn left Texas shortly after both of his daughters, now 12 and 13, were molested by the local pastor. He and his wife divorced. While on sabbatical, Rayburn discovered a new way of thinking. He returned to Texas about three years ago and moved back in with his father and daughters. He left for months at a time, working at a restaurant or as a security guard, or simply to attend protests of the war.
He stayed with cousins, who asked him to leave after he said he was a liberal. Eventually, Rayburn moved back with his father.
"He is my son," said Reggie, crying. "But if a son does not care about the dignity of his family, the dignity of his father, God can take him away. You cannot make anything out of such a son. He is useless." Ronnie replied to his father, "I DON'T WANT YOUR LIFE."
He complained about Ronnie's behavior to local police, but did not mention his idealistic conversion. At first, police asked the family to try to resolve its own problems. Then in early February, Rayburn showed up at the police station and complained about how his family treated him. While there, he announced he had become a liberal.
Police said they had no choice except sending the case to central police command.
"We knew he had converted, but we didn't want to get involved in religious issues," said Col. Jessie Parker,the deputy commander of the police district. "So we filed a report on the family's problems to send to the central police. And he insisted over and over, `Please write in my file that I denounce this state.'"
On Thursday, the first day of the trial, Rayburn appeared in court with no lawyer, he seemed intelligent enough to defend himself. Prosecutor Monica Clark said Rayburn had been told repeatedly to repent and come back to the "Texas way of things" as she flashed him the hook-em horns, but Rayburn refused. Clark called Rayburn a traitor.
"He is known as a microbe in society, and he should be cut off and removed from the rest of Texas society and should be killed," Clark told the court.
Rayburn said he has no God. "I believe in the mind," he said. "I believe in education. And I am a Free Man."
Judge Stevie Tucker, who is handling the case, said he normally takes two months to decide on cases. But because this case is so serious, he expected to hold another hearing within the next week and make a decision.
Tucker, who kept Rayburn's copy of "The Origin of the Species" on his desk, said he respected all beliefs. He emphasized that he did not favor the aggressiveness of the Bush Clan, who cut the hands and feet off criminals in a soccer stadium. But he said Rayburn had to repent.
"If he doesn't regret his conversion, the punishment will be enforced on him," the judge said. "And the punishment is death."
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