The Texas Taliban

You can't get drunk in Texas

Just when I thought I'd seen everything, I hear that the Texas Alcoholic beverage Commission (TABC) is arresting north Texas bar patrons that appear to be drunk. Mind you, the customers are not passed out or disorderly -- just 'appear to be' drunk. In one case, a man was arrested in the bar of the hotel in which he was staying. In other cases, the people had designated drivers. In one case, shown on TV, a woman is saying, "Texas sucks" as she's hand-cuffed.

Now, the Dallas Convention Center and many North Texas businesses are rightly concerned about 'Operation Last Call'. They term it as a biz kill. How TABC steps over the line is this: any patron at any public place selling alcohol could be arrested. You say you just had a promotion or turned 30? Well, better keep that celebration to two beers or one marguerita. You never know what type of TABC officer might be lurking at the next bar stool.

Now two big venues -- Fairmont Hotel and Dallas Convention Center have had corporate customers threaten to cancel conventions. We could stay on our high horse and have our town dwindle to the size of Waco. Or we could find other ways to proactively deal with public drunkenness -- without alienating other states and without stepping on the civil rights of bar patrons. How about hiring cabs or finding designated drivers? There are ways that the other 49 states have found to handle the situation. We needn't evolve our own Texas Taliban. As things stand, a state congressman has asked for ‘Operation Last Call’ to be put on hold, pending further study. No status yet on that, or Texas’ future status as a state that wants tourism.