Drinking in Texas Bars

[emhahn]

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commision has randomly begun raiding bars in the Dallas area, and arresting bar patrons, servers, bartenders, bar owners, and bar managers for overserving their customers.

Here's the story:
http://www.restaurantedge.com/index....=1&newsid=1394

Public intoxication in Texas .08, or roughly two drinks for the average person.
http://studentlife.tamu.edu/scrs/sls/FAQpi.htm

This is bad news for anyone who owns a bar or restaurant in Texas that serves alcohol.

First, bartenders and servers are trained to identify obvious causes of drunkeness, but they don't carry breathalizers to find out accurately how drunk their patrons really are.

Second, if bar patrons, servers, bartenders, bar owners and bar managers can be arrested on the spot for overserving, who in the **** would want to work or own a bar, and who in the **** would ever want to go out to party?

Lastly, it doesn't matter if you have a designated driver, either. If you are .08 or better, and have a designated driver, you're still going to get arrested.

This is law in Texas. If you don't like the law, you throw out the **** bums who put such rules into place!

Two things are going to happen if this is allowed to continue:

1. Bars will go out of business because nobody will want to go out.
2. Nobody will want to work in the business because the threat of getting arrested could happen at any time.

This is a terrible, terrible policy in Texas, and it's a law that should get changed!

Eric
http://www.RestaurantEdge.com

[Andrew Hope]

Thats crazy... glad I'm not in texas :S

[panini]

Eric,
I'm a little surprized at this post. You are very informed. I'm pretty sure that you know this is not a state issue. It's right out there in the open that the current administration is incorporating Church into state. They are very dedicated in the effort to monitor, manage, censor, and control our personal activities. They would actually like to have control of what I'm typing right now on the internet or at least the right to censor it. I agree that there has to be changes made. I personally think it starts with the majority.
I don't have an opinion on the article or content. I have not really had time to think about it. It doesn't surprize me though.
In Texas, I think there are probably more dry areas then wet. The numbers/stats given, might be a little skewed. I think a lot of our vehicle accidents result in fatalities, for the mere fact that our city blocks are usually 14 miles long. meaning that we are pretty spread out and long drives on dark 'FM's (farm to market road) at high rates of speed are the norm.
Just some thoughts from a Texan

[kuan]

Are you kidding me? People really go to bars to eat chicken wings, didn't you know that? Everything else should be against the law.

[Peachcreek]

Ironic that a drunk in a bar gets a stiffer sentence than a guy who shoots somebody. Don't mess with Texas!

[MarkV]

Hic!

[chef_oz]

That wouldn't fly here in cali.
Most of the bars would go under, and there wouldn't be any place for the college girls to go!
:ciao:

[foodpump]

Start taking a look at liquor laws in other places. Here in lotus-land, it's against the law to consume alcohol in a public place while standing up...

All servers have to have a "serving it right" certificate here, the server can cut off a customer if s/he feels that the customer is drunk. The server can also be held liable for any actions the drunk customer does.

This is a really screweed up place for booze, thirty years ago all bars had to have separate "men's" and "Ladies and escorts" entrances, wine consisted only of 'Baby duck", "lonesome Charlie"and "Moody Blue", and if you didn't drink beer then you drank rye and coke...

On the other hand, drunks are dangerous, especially when they have access to a vehicle. I figure a bunch of fines and belly-aching is alot better (and cheaper) than funerals or visting Bob in the hospital on life-support for the rest of his life....

[castironchef]

Like their ad campaign says, "Texas. It's like a whole other country."

Maybe their version of the Taliban have taken over.

[diane]

What does one do about people sneaking stuff in capacious handbags and the like. Or going out to their car for a large gulp or two. Certainly drunks are dangerous, but some of them carry intoxication very well, while others are unfortunately obvious. It does place the bartender or server in an almost impossible position. And the owner, who gets hit hardest of all.

[panini]

I just wanted to say something without my distaste for the polotics involved.
This is no great secret here in Texas. This has been going on for the last year. There is no entrapment involved. I personally know of someone with these duties. TRUST me, they are not out to make monies for the minucipalities or to put notches on there arrest record. For the most part they are very discreet. They are not dressed in balck suits,metal toed shoes with aviator glasses.
They work on statistacs. If there is an area that has a number of reported incidences/accidents/violance etc. related to their bar trade, they investigate. They are usually passive and don't get involved in disputes and things of that nature. They let local handle it. If an opportunity arrises where they have whitnessed a pourer serving someone or a party way too much or way to fast, they will get involved. You must have a class to pour here.
If they whitness an individual or more obviously intoxicated and a potential threat to themselves or others they get involved.
It's a shame that the state is going to get a bad rap for doing something positive. It is not unusual for there to be a road stop, set up with breath-a-lizer a block away from a bar at closing time. I don't see the difference.
As I stated before, a lot of our accidents have a high fatality rate. There is sometimes tremendous lengths between retail businesses and public transportation is usually non-existant. We have as many dry places to live as wet. I prefer to live in a dry town. I drive in the early am hours and don't choose not to drive with the drunks.
I'm personally not against this type of activity in public places, I'm against how it was easily instituted and it will be a short time and they will use this freedom to continue these efforts into the private home. This is a Republican State. So this is not something unique, these type of actions are coming to your town soon. It's up to you to change things. This is not some backwards state. We are high up there in tecnology and medicine and I think we're in the "bottom" in education. The state where some of your leaders are from.
Just my thought, not meant to be argumentitive. Sometimes things happen and you never realize they are happening till it's too late. This is not a story, it's reality.

[panini]

re pete brain f rt

[Chef Kaiser]

That is truley funny? We are tasked to work and earn money, so we can live and pay our taxes. The owner has to earn money to sustain business and pay salaries and all what goes with it inclusive of taxes. On the other side the Law cuting the income. that is really funny.

An Austrian friend told me a story, as in Europe they are pritty strict too about drinking Alcohol and driving, one glass of wine is enough to be fined.

Therefore some retired fit elderly people pick up customers form restuarants and bars to bring them home. Well maybe restaurant and bar owners in Texas have to think about a solution, which is for sure not against the law.

Well happy where I am no such laws

regards - happy to freely drink my beer

[kuan]

They could just set up a DWI roadblock outside the parking lot can't they?

Costs money, costs taxpayers, but I'd gladly put some money into that.

[foodpump]

Look, it's true that over here the legal alcohol limit is .08%, and it's true that there's cops and roadblocks on game nights, and on weekends, and it's true that if caught driving over the limit results in heavy fines and stripping of driver's license, but that doesn't mean that we don't drink....

What we have here is the drinker's buddy system. Most guys hang out in groups of three, four, etc. One of the guys, for that night, is a "DD", or designated driver. He picks everybody up with his car, they all hang out, he drinks coke or maybe just a few beer for the night, and he drops them off afterwards. How and why he gets to be DD is a result of racous debate, but usually they all rotate the job of DD. Now, supposing that Barney and Betty have been living together for 8 years and they finally decide to get married, Barney needs a farewell party, right? All the guys, including Barney get dropped off by a wife or someone, they all have a good time, and they taxi it home.
Cops or anyone else don't really care what state the backseat passengers are in, but the guy who's driving has to be in control....