I had just finished my take home quiz for math and was very excited for class to end. My family had just landed and was curious what my college life was all about. Once they arrived I toured them around campus, showing them all the big buildings: Dallas Hall, Dedman Center, and Umphrey Lee. We went out to dinner and parted our ways for the night. The next afternoon we experienced tailgating at the boulevard and watched the football game together. Later that night my parents socialized with me and my new friends at the local bar Barley House.
My parents were shocked about the fact that underage students were allowed to enter into a bar and drink with their parents accompanying them. My dad brought my mom and I each a beer to enjoy as I introduced them to my friends. I then remembered that a high school friend of mine from TCU was supposed to meet me at the bar later in the night, so I went looking for him. I was walking out the front door with a beer in my hand when a TABC officer grabbed my arm, and immediately escorted me towards the street.
He looked down at me and said, “Do you have an i.d. for that beer?”.
“No, officer my parents are inside.” I replied. He then took out his pad of paper and started writing me up. “Officer can I go retrieve my parents so I don’t have to be written up.”.
He replied with sarcasm, “Sorry, tickets already written up, there’s nothing I can do.”
I then was told if I were to go back into the bar I would be taken to jail for the night. This was outrageous. Here I was out on family weekend obeying the law by drinking with my parents, and now I am not allowed to find my parents and tell them I was given a ticket! My rights as a citizen were abused and I was mistreated by the police.
Police officers on SMU campus and all around dallas are manipulating the law for their personal benefit. Students and citizens of the U.S. should be informed of their rights so they are able to use them correctly when the time is right. I now have to go out of my way, maybe miss school to show up to a court date where I will most likely be punished by the judicial system. Here is an article on SMU’s alcohol violations and what students think about the situation.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/education/stories/101007dnmetsmualcohol.32e14b9.html
5 comments:
Omg i can't believe this!! Its so interesting that the authorities never believe or trust us. They assume that we are lying and trying to get by with things instead of being genuinely good people who are telling the truth. Society today is very untrusting. Day to day we automatically assume the worst in people and seldom allow ourselves to open up.
The only time I have ever been so open with people has been this past month of college. The minute you meet someone you end up telling them all about yourself and personal stories. It normally does not happen that fast. People have to hang out with the person for a substantial amount of time before sharing so many deep stories.
Most people do end up lying and using others for their gain and that is why as a whole we distrust others. Therefore the cop, assumed the teenager in front of him was lying, even though in actuality she was being honest. This is the dilemma society is faced with everyday.
I agree with the fact that its ridiculous that you couldn't go get your parents to show that you were with them but in all honesty I think we need to look at it from the cops perspective. They deal with underage drinking everyday and I'm sure they get all kinds of excuses. If they deal with fake excuses everyday why should they listen to your excuse? Yeah this one time you were telling the truth, but if they gave you a shot to go get your parents that would open up the doors for people in the future to say they are going to get their parents and a) run away or b) go grab a random person in the bar that looks old enough to be their parent. I agree with Happy that it is sad that we distrust so many people but with all the people out there with no honor or integrity, how can you trust people?
that's crazy. The same weekend I went with my friend & her parents to a restaurant where her dad ordered her a drink & the waitress quickly asked for her ID. When her dad asked about the law here in Texas, the waitress told us that wasn't truly how it worked. However, when he pulled out his blackberry & googled the law, she was proven otherwise. While I'm not really complaining because it is kinda nice for us kids, I don't get what the point of having such a law is. Doesn't it just cause confusing situations like yours? I don't know...but it's really unfortunate for you. Hopefully you can explain it in court and get out of it. Good luck!
Interesting story you share. My good friends encountered a similar situation that night at Barley House as well. As students, we hear daily of new kids down the hall and around campus that got an Alcohol Violation the night before. It has become not so much an issue of ‘if’ but rather ‘when’ you will receive one. I have observed that the SMU PD has a much more fair approach on curbing dangerous drinking than the TABC does. Last night, a friend and I talked to Officer Lewis as he took a break from wandering through my dorm hall. As the topic came up, he told me that even though he knows that 90% of the kids he sees around campus have been drinking on any given night, he only takes actions on those who are seriously intoxicated or if he is responding to a call. The TABC on the other hand aims to punish any and everybody involved with the consumption of alcohol underage. I’ve heard countless horror stories of encounters with the TABC and how they unsympathetically pass out tickets and arrests to those involved (bar staff included).
It’s my personal belief that while of course it is illegal to consume alcohol if you are under 21, logical approaches must be taken in order to combat the problem. As long as people are being smart and safe about it (as you clearly were in your retelling of the story), there was no justified reason for you to be cited, especially because your parents were in fact inside.
Good luck, and as Officer Lewis told me last night, he encourages those who have received citations to fight it, BECAUSE ITS YOUR RIGHT.
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