Arrested for Drinking Where?

If you've been following some of what we often call "news of the weird," you might have heard that the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission has been arresting people for being drunk in public - in these cases, "public" = "a bar."

Ex-squeeze me? We thought that was what the purpose of a tavern was - to go there and drink and possibly get a little toasty. From the article in the Dallas Morning News:

• ... a stepped-up liquor-law enforcement program that has included arrests this month of patrons sitting drinking at establishments in Irving. Among those arrested was an Arkansas man who drank several beers at a hotel restaurant before he retired for the night to his room in the same hotel. [emphasis added - SCC]
  

The following is from Instapundit and deserves to be quoted in full:

• TEXAS' AGGRESSIVE ENFORCEMENT of public intoxication laws has generated considerable backlash. Perhaps that's because the Texas legislature seems to be really, really dumb:

  Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, was instrumental in getting the increased staffing, as a member of both the powerful Senate Finance Committee and the Criminal Justice Committee, which oversees the alcohol commission.

  Although he agreed hearings are merited, he 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."

  Even though a Senator is not planning on taking bribes from the underage-goat-sex lobby, that could change in an instant. Best we lock them all up now.

The "nanny state" in it's full glory. We know better than you do. What a bunch of morons.