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Attorney General Chris Bentley returned to his old turf yesterday, telling a roomful of criminal lawyers he’s trying to fix Ontario’s justice system as any shrewd defence lawyer would approach a case.

He’s strategizing.
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If you traveled by vehicle this Thanksgiving weekend, you probably noticed traffic enforcement officers did not take the weekend off. They were out in numbers working diligently to make our roadways safe for holiday traffic.
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The California Highway Patrol is reporting 75 drunken driving arrests in the county so far this Thanksgiving holiday weekend.

During the same period last year, CHP officers made 92 DUI arrests in the county.

The only fatalities reported countywide this weekend occurred in Balboa Park at midnight, when a driver and passenger were killed in a rollover crash.

Statewide, CHP officers made 942 DUI arrests between Wednesday evening and Saturday morning.

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In the past, a first-time Illinois offender who had a statutory summary suspension — meaning their driving privileges were suspended because of a drunken driving arrest — could request a judicial driving permit. If granted by a judge and approved by the secretary of state, the permit allowed the offender to drive, but only to work or school.

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Crackdown on drunk driving in New Mexico will last into early 2009.

Drunk DrivingNew Mexico started its annual Superblitz aimed at cracking down on motorists who are driving drunk. This year the campaign has been extended through the New Year celebration.

Law enforcement agencies across the state will be conducting random sobriety checkpoints and enhanced drunk driving patrols on Thanksgiving weekend and then every weekend in December and the first weekend in January. According to New Mexico DWI czar Rachel O’Connor, the state typically only conducts two short Superblitzes.

The winter Superblitz looking for motorists who are suspected of driving while intoxicated in New Mexico will end January 4, 2009.

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NO one should drink and drive. Alcohol impairs the senses to such a degree that driving is unsafe for the driver and dangerous to others on the road.

As Donna Hawkins, state director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, told Mannix Porterfield of the Register-Herald in Beckley, drunk drivers caused 142 funerals in West Virginia in 2007 – 13 more than in the previous year.

But experience shows that not all drunk drivers are equal. The more alcohol one consumes, the more dangerous one is. For many reasons, the law should recognize this.

A person with a blood-alcohol content of .15 or higher is more dangerous than a person who meets the minimum standard – .08 percent blood-alcohol level – for being legally too drunk to drive.

More than half the traffic fatalities in the nation involve at least one driver who has a blood-alcohol level of .15 or higher.

West Virginia law now recognizes that. After county after county in West Virginia complained about the rising cost of sending DUI suspects to jail, the Legislature finally backed down.

People who are found to have blood-alcohol levels of .08 to .14 no longer face a mandatory 24 hours in jail.

This frees up space in the regional jails for people who pose a bigger danger to society, and it reduces the jail bills county taxpayers are struggling to pay.

The new law also allows people in the .08-.14 category to install Interlock devices on their cars and thereby cut in half the time that their licenses are suspended. The devices require a driver to pass a Breathalyzer before the car will start.

While the system is not foolproof, it does greatly reduce instances of driving under the influence.

“We’re hoping (as) the new DUI law kicks in and with some increased patrols, sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, (that) all of that will have a positive impact and we’ll be able to save more lives,” Hawkins said.

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Over 80,000 arrest for DWI are made in North Carolina every year.
North Carolina Rank 5th in the Country for Alcohol Related Traffic Deaths The following is being released by Mothers Against Drunk Driving of North Carolina: What: Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) of North Carolina will kick-off its annual Tie One On For Safety holiday ribbon project. Representatives from the ranches of law enforcement will join MADD in helping to keep the roadways safe this coming holiday. Justin Morgan a 9-year-old drunk driving victim who lost his friend Pattie Burdoff in the same crash on 12/08/06 will be kicking off his campaign to break a world record. Justin will be asking individuals to donate one penny each (487 deaths = $4.87 donation request) in honor of the victims that were killed over the past year in North Carolina.

MADD’s Tie One On For Safety project urges motorists to tie a MADD red ribbon to a visible location on their vehicles, as a pledge to drive safe and sober and wear their seat belts. MADD has plans to distribute these ribbons across the State in over 1,000 locations, including every State Farm Insurance office within North Carolina.

This year Tie One On For Safety celebrates over 27 years of lifesaving awareness with a chance for the public and city leaders to join MADD’s Campaign to Eliminate Drunk Driving. MADD calls for intensive, high-visibility law enforcement efforts like sobriety checkpoints; advocates that all convicted drunk drivers have an alcohol ignition interlock installed on their vehicles; and supports the research of transparent, vehicle-based technologies that will prevent a drunk driver from driving drunk.

When: December 1, 2008 at 10 AM

Where: Police Memorial across from the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department (601 East Trade Street, Charlotte, NC)
Who: MADD State Director Craig Lloyd, Justin Morgan, local law enforcement representatives from (Mecklenburg County Sheriff, Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police, Highway Patrol and Governors Highway Safety ).

Why: Nationally, the holidays are among the deadliest times on the road.

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Family and friends of a Johnston City man– killed in a drunk driving accident 16 months ago– say they’re still waiting for the man responsible to be punished.

In July of 2007, 22 year-old Justin Dodd was killed when the car he was riding in flipped into a ditch.

The driver, Ross Hill, has pleaded guilty to aggravated D.U.I. He’s scheduled to be sentenced next month, but friends of the Dodd family worry that a change made in court Tuesday could disrupt that.

It was Judge William Wilson who over-saw most of the hearings regarding Ross Hill, but the case has now been re-assigned to Judge Randy Moore.

Advocates for Mothers Against Drunk Driving have been attending most of these hearings. They say this latest change is a blow to the Dodd family.

“It’s not right. It’s just not right.”

With tears in her eyes and a button on her shirt reading “Justice for Justin,” Linda Sargent talked about an issue close to her heart.

“Too many of our kids are dying and we’re not going to stop. We’re going to keep coming to this courthouse. We’re going to keep monitoring these cases.”

As the director of a local MADD chapter, Sargent has been very involved in the case against Ross Hill.

Last September, Hill pleaded GUILTY to one count of aggravated D.U.I. — a class two felony.

Hill was quiet as he entered a Williamson County courtroom. He and Justin Dodd had been friends before the fatal accident on July 16th, 2007.

As the months have dragged on, Sargent says it’s only become harder for the Dodd family.

“Justin was a live human being until that night, and now their whole life has been turned upside down.”

Sargent says– now– she’s even more concerned.

The case has been re-assigned to Judge James ‘Randy’ Moore, but Ross Hill’s defense attorney is Randy Patchett.

Moore defeated Patchett in the Republican primary for the first circuit judge position, and because of that, Sargent is worried Patchett may appeal the re-assignment.

“There’s just no justice. We’re fighting for justice” says Sargent.

The sentencing hearing for Ross Hill is scheduled for December 19th.

By: Jackie McPherson
jmcpherson@wsiltv.com

Drunken drivers remain a menace on West Virginia highways, and even with a new law on the books, more lives likely will be sacrificed while lawmakers gauge its ability to drop the number of deaths.

Just this year, Gov. Joe Manchin signed a much-debated and revised proposal aimed at reversing the deadly trend of inebriants behind the wheel.

Drivers under the influence prompted 142 funerals in 2007, an increase of 13 deaths from the previous year, says Donna Hawkins, state director of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.

“West Virginia is one of the few states where fatalities actually increased,” she said Wednesday.

“We’re hoping when the new DUI law kicks in and with some increased patrols, sobriety checkpoints, saturation patrols, all of that will have a positive impact and we’ll be able to save more lives.”

Hawkins was a prime mover behind intense negotiations in a special task force that led to passage of a revised DUI law.

A major point created the new offense of aggravated DUI to more harshly punish motorists with a blood alcohol content of .15 or higher, spelling out mandatory jail time of two days to six months.

Another major provision of the revised law Manchin signed allows a motorist with a BAC reading of .08 to .14 to have an alcohol ignition device known as the Interlock installed, trimming in half the old mandatory one-month license suspension.

A third step in the new DUI law was designed to give counties some monetary relief by eliminating the mandatory 24-hour lockup for drivers with a reading below .15.

Hawkins said a company dealing with the Interlock is opening more venues for drivers to get them installed, allowing more access.

No effort is in mind in the upcoming legislative session to tweak the law. Rather, MADD wants to give a one-year test, Hawkins explained.

“We’re not going to be tackling any kind of reform in 2009,” she said.

In advance of the long holiday period — Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day — her group has revived its annual Tie One On program to raise public awareness.

Up to 15,000 motor vehicles will be adorned with red ribbons across West Virginia, available by calling MADD at 1-800-776-0635. The program was launched last week with the help of first lady Gayle Manchin.

“We want to spread the word that people should not drink and drive during the holiday season,” Hawkins said.

“We are asking people to tie a red ribbon on their vehicles as a reminder to drive safe, drive sober and drive buckled up. I think it’s a very visible reminder.”
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The Wind River Indian Reservation has toughened its drunken-driving standards for tribal members.

The Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes share the reservation in central Wyoming. The new legal blood-alcohol limit on the reservation is 0.05 percent. That’s just half of the reservation’s old limit of 0.1 percent and lower than Wyoming’s standard of 0.08 percent.

Eastern Shoshone tribal Chairman Ivan Posey pushed for the lower limit, saying that drunken driving is one of the main causes of premature death on the reservation. He said many pedestrians have been killed by drunken drivers over the years.

“Public safety was the first and foremost reason we changed these laws,” Posey said. “There was really no deterrent, or very strong deterrent, to keep people from putting themselves and others in danger.”

Posey said he hopes the state of Wyoming follows the tribes’ lead on this issue and also revises its blood-alcohol content limit down to .05.
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