TCU student tailgaters may be partying too hard by Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission standards. TCU student tailgates were the second-most cited place in Tarrant County by the TABC in 2007, TABC records show.

TABC officers have handed out 59 citations at TCU tailgates in the Brachman Hall parking lot. As a result, more TABC agents were present at recent home games for officer safety, said TABC Agent Tana Travis.

Travis has written 395 citations since 2004, third-most among TABC agents. She has written 29 citations at TCU tailgates, records show.

“The first couple of games that I worked, with the number of violations that we had, it was definite that we needed more help out there,” Travis said.

Although TABC agents have written 43 percent fewer tickets in 2007 than in 2004, all citations handed out at TCU came in 2007.

Darron Turner, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs who oversees student tailgates, said he did not know why TABC agents decided to attend tailgates this year and not in years past.

“(TABC) contacted the university one time to say they were coming with more people, and then they just kept that up,” Turner said.

In the spring, Turner said university officials will meet with TABC agents to discuss plans for next year’s student tailgate.

“We’re taking some of their concerns and trying to figure out how to deal with those in the future so that students feel like they have a good place to be, and TABC feels that it’s a safer environment,” Turner said.

One TCU junior political science major, 20, who asked to remain anonymous, received a minor in possession of alcohol citation from TABC at a student tailgate and said the agent who issued her ticket was not helpful.

“(It was) my first time ever getting in trouble with the cops so I was trying to ask questions and figure out what I needed to do,” she said. “(The TABC agent) did not offer me any information. I wasn’t doing anything to attract attention to myself, and I thought it was unnecessary to be rude about it.”

Travis said she has never seen any officer act disrespectfully toward a student.

“Sometimes (agents) are a little stern because you have to take control of the situation so it doesn’t get out of hand,” Travis said. “When we issue those citations to defendants, there’s a box on the bottom of the citation. Personally, I read it to the violator.”

The most common offense cited by TABC officers has been minor in possession/consumption of alcohol as 1,802 such tickets have been handed out since 2004. Public intoxication was the second-most frequent offense with 543 citations.

Sgt. Terry Parsons with TABC said he does not know if fewer people are violating the law, or if agents are not catching as many offenders.

“All I can tell you is that less people are getting caught,” Parsons said. “I’d like to think it’s because people are complying with the law. That’s our goal, is for compliance.”

Alcohol-related offenses by minors carry up to a $500 fine, eight to 12 hours of community service and a 30-day driver’s license suspension for a first offense, according to the TABC Web site. In addition, offenders must complete an alcohol awareness course.

The leading site for TABC citations in Tarrant County this year is Billy Bob’s Texas, a famous country-western club in the stockyards.

Billy Dresser, assistant general manager of Billy Bob’s, said so many citations are written at his establishment partly because of its large capacity, and partly because guests under 21 are admitted.

“(Underage guests) should know better by now,” Dresser said. “We’ve been here 26 years – if you’re going to come here and try to drink, you’re not going to get by with it.