Texas bar patrons may have more than a dirty glass or a saloon shootout to watch out for. A new program sends undercover agents into watering holes to arrest drinkers for being drunk.

The first sting was held in a Dallas suburb where operatives penetrated 36 bars and handcuffed 30 people for public intoxication, said the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission spokeswoman Carolyn Beck.

Being in a bar does not exempt one from the state laws against public drunkenness, said Beck.

“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.

A local cowboys interviewed said, “It’s a shame, a darn shame. Guess we jes gonna haf to ‘treat back to Brokeback Mountain to get some peace n’ quiet.” The ranchand looked towards the foothills. He took a chaw off the hay stalk gripped between his teeth. After a spell, he added, “I won’t quit you, Jim Beam.”

Texas Arresting people in Bars for Being Drunk [Reuters]

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