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Gregg K. was bombed when police arrested him at his wife’s home in Wausau in 2006. He wasn’t driving, or even in a motor vehicle, and no one saw him driving to get there. So how did prosecutors convict him of his fifth-offense drunken driving?

They relied on circumstantial evidence, the kind commonly used to prove many other crimes but  extremely rare in drunken driving cases. Gregg appealed, but on Tuesday the Wisconsin Supreme Court upheld his conviction.

Gregg was done in by the electronic monitoring device he was wearing while on probation for other offenses. It showed he left  his mother’s house in Rib Mountain about 15 minutes before he was arrested in Wausau. Jurors concluded he must have driven himself there.

Gregg challenged the admissibility of a computer-generated report from his monitoring device, offered without expert testimony.

According to the opinion, written by Justice David Prosser, police arrested Gregg after his estranged wife called to say he had broken into her home. At the hospital where he was treated for injuries suffered when he broke in, Gregg had a 0.23 blood-alcohol level. His green van was parked near his wife’s house, so police charged him with DUI.
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Two Milwaukee area lawmakers are trying to toughen up drunk driving penalties in Wisconsin.

Right now, the penalty for a first offense OWI is a ticket. State Senator Alberta Darling (R – River Hills) and State Representative Jim Ott (R – Mequon) would like to change that. The legislatures are pushing for a bill that would make some first time OWIs a crime.

“We need to change the culture in Wisconsin,” said Darling. “We cannot have the highest incident of drunk driving. That is not Wisconsin. I don’t accept that.”

The current laws are also not acceptable to Paul Jenkins. His pregnant step-daughter, Jennifer Bukosky and her daughter were killed by a drunk driver who was under the influence of drugs. It wasn’t his first offense. Jenkins was heartbroken two years ago when lawmakers passed a watered down version of a tougher bill.

“Judy and I pretty much gave up hope after Bill 100 was passed that any meaningful drunk driving relief would pass,” Jenkins admitted.

In addition to making first offense criminal, if the blood alcohol content is higher than .15, it would strengthen other penalties for repeat drunk drivers. Jenkins hopes it passes and makes people think twice before drinking and driving.

“If you have any doubt in your mind, you just shouldn’t get behind the wheel of your car,” said Jenkins.

In the past, political will has been lacking to criminalize the first offense. Opponents argued it is expensive and unfair.

The bill was to be introduced Friday for co-sponsors. Representative Ott says it could go before a committee in a matter of weeks.

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An elaborate story designed to cover up an alleged drunk driving rollover crash near northwest suburban Marengo didn’t quite work out for two friends.

John Doe 21, of Kenosha, Wis., allegedly told police he was being held at gunpoint by a man, whom deputies found fleeing the scene of a crash at Route 20 and Meyer Road just after 11:30 p.m. Saturday, a release from McHenry County Sheriff’s office said.

John Doe was a passenger in the 1995 Dodge Neon, the release said.

But the driver, Jack Doe, was found after a search of the area and positively identified as the man who ran from the scene, the release said.

Subsequent interviews revealed there was no firearm involved and that the two were friends trying to cover up their drunken driving, the release said.

Both were medically cleared and taken into custody Sunday, though DUI charges against Jack Doe could not be filed because of the time frame involved, the release said.

John Doe was charged with obstruction of justice, a Class 4 felony, while Jack Doe, of Belvidere, was charged with one count each of leaving the scene, no valid driver’s license and identity obstruction, all misdemeanors.

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It’s a sobering thought: nearly one in four Wisconsin drivers drove intoxicated in the past year. Wisconsin ranked number one in a recent poll as the state with the highest percentage of drivers who admit to driving drunk in the past year – 23.7 percent.

“The one day you wipe somebody out, you kill somebody or kill their families or some law enforcement officer on the side of the road, your life will change forever,” says Milwaukee County Sheriff David Clarke.

The report says responsible alcohol sales, sobriety checkpoints and substance abuse treatment could help reduce the problem. Clarke says criminalizing the first offense in Wisconsin would help the problem as well.

“If the circuit court system in milwaukee county would send a different message, a clear and convincing message that if you decide to drive on wisconsin’s roadways in milwaukee county we’re ready to bring it in terms of severe consequences to that behavior,” he said.

In the study, conducted by researchers of the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, 10 million Americans admitted to driving while on illicit drugs in the past year, including 5 percent of Wisconsin drivers.

Fortunately, Wisconsin does not top this category – Rhode Island does.

As startling as all of these numbers are, they’re actually slightly down from a previous study.

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Five weeks ago, Wisconsin officially cracked down on drunk drivers by implementing a new law meant to deter people from climbing behind the wheel drunk. But police say not much has changed since the new drunk driving law took effect July 1st.

The compromise law is meant to deter drunk driving through several changed.

First, it makes the fourth offense a felony instead of the fifth. It also mandates ignition interlock devices for all repeat offenders and first time offenders with blood alcohol levels of 0.15 or higher. And it expands Winnebago County’s Safe Streets program, which offers treatment options instead of longer jail time, statewide.

Most law enforcement officials and even state lawmakers agree, Wisconsin has a drinking problem.

“Overall, our blood alcohol level is very consistent over the years of a 0.20, which is two and a half times the legal limit for intoxication,” said Green Bay Police Lt. Brad Florence.

Lives lost to drunk drivers, high blood alcohol contents, and multiple offenses are just some of the reasons lawmakers set to work on the new law. They’re hoping to deter drunk driving and begin to change the culture of drinking.

“It’s trying to attack the problem from several angles and we’ll just have to see what works best,” said Republican Senator Robert Cowles of Allouez.

So far, Green Bay Police say they haven’t seen a change. Last month, they made 77 arrests, nearly as many as last July before the law was ever created.

“Our numbers are showing that it is not acting as a deterrent,” said Lt. Florence.

But lawmakers are quick to point out, there are many phases to the bill, and treatment, which takes time, may be the best way to begin changing the culture.

“The people that are at issue here are people that have an illness,” said Sen. Cowles. “They have an addiction and the penalties aren’t so important. I really believe the treatment is what can change this.”

While both groups hope the new law makes the difference, both agree it could be months, if not years, before we see it.

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Recently there has been an attempt by our state lawmakers to draft a tougher DUI bill. A major problem seems to be the lack of funds to enforce the tougher laws that are needed. Really!

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How much are all those lives that are needlessly ended on our highways each year due to irresponsible use of alcohol worth?

I recently returned from Japan.

Drinking sake and beer is a big deal there.

A few years ago, they also had a serious problem with drunk drivers. That is changing. The legal blood alcohol limit for a driver in Japan, as of 2007, is 0.03.

That represents one beer for the average Japanese woman and a little over one beer for the average man.

Penalties, even for a first offense, are stiff — thousands of dollars in fines, often prison time, and other penalties including the real possibility of job loss.

Anyone riding in the car with a drunk driver in Japan is also fined. With the new laws, most Japanese do not drink even one beer prior to driving.

Yes, laws like these are tough medicine, and initially they may be expensive to enforce.

However, anything less is not going to solve the problem.

In the long-run, strictly enforced, tough Japanese-style laws will be less expensive than less stringent laws because there will be far fewer violators of the stricter laws.

Like smoking in public buildings, drinking and driving is a solvable problem.

Let’s stop making excuses and just do it.

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Wisconsin is known historically as a hotbed of social reforms, yet cracking down on drunken drivers has never been high on policymakers’ to-do list.

Maybe that’s because so many have had to recite their ABCs on the side of the road.

Big breweries once dominated the state and ties to the beer industry remain stout, giving way to a belief that hard drinking is as much a part of the Wisconsin culture as the Green Bay Packers and cheese. That’s created a blind spot of sorts for the socially conscious state: drunken driving.

Wisconsin has long had the nation’s highest rates of drinking – and binge drinking – among adults and some of the most lax laws on drunken driving. There’s also a history of lawmakers who have been caught behind the wheel after having a few too many.

It’s a paradox for a state in which leaders pride themselves on being on the forefront of welfare programs, health care and workers’ rights.

“There is a live hard, play hard, cut corners, get away with anything you can culture in the Legislature,” said Mordecai Lee, a former longtime Democratic legislator who’s now a University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee professor. “Driving drunk is just part of a larger political culture of getting away with anything you can.”

The latest accused legislator is state Rep. Jeff Wood, who was charged with driving under the influence three times over a 10-month period. He has pleaded not guilty and appears poised to serve out his term with only a ceremonial slap on the wrist.

“Jeff Wood is a perfect example of protecting their own,” said Judy Jenkins, whose pregnant daughter and 10-year-old granddaughter were killed by a drugged driver. “I would be surprised if they (legislators) kicked him out. He’s part of the culture.”

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The national president of Mothers Against Drunk Driving wants Wisconsin lawmakers to toughen drunken driving penalties in the state.

MADD’s president wants lawmakers to hold a hearing on a bill that would legalize sobriety checkpoints and make a first-offense drunken driving arrest a crime instead of just a traffic violation.

Democratic State Senator Mark Miller of Monona says it doesn’t make sense to move ahead with the costly bill. He says the state should wait to look at another proposal to toughen drunken penalties until a bill passed last year takes effect.

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Governor Doyle today signed into law tougher measures against drunk driving, including criminalizing first offense when a child is a passenger.

Doyle was flanked by mothers who had lost children to drunk drivers as he signed the legislation during a state capitol ceremony.

The law also makes fourth offense drunk driving a felony instead of a misdemeanor when it occurs within five years of a previous offense;   requires ignition interlock devices for the cars of first time offenders if their blood alcohol level is twice Wisconsin’s .08 legal limit;   and expands treatment options available to judges during the sentencing of offenders, patterned after a successful Winnebago County program.

Even Doyle conceded he would have liked to see tougher changes, such as creating a felony offense for third time offenders, but said  “it is a good bill and another major step forward to fight drunk driving.”

Judy Jenkins, whose daughter Jennifer Bukosky, granddaughter Courtney, and Jennifer’s unborn daughter Sophia were all killed by the intoxicated driving of Mark Benson in Waukesha County, said the law’s passage is gratifying, but criminalizing all first offenses is still needed.   Wisconsin is the only state which treats first offense operating while intoxicated like a traffic ticket.

Jodene Meinl, whose fourteen year old daughter Lacey was killed by a drunk driver in January in Winnebago County, said the new measures are a step forward.

“It does not take away my pain, but it is a help to deal with drunk driving.”

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A Wisconsin woman called 911 to report herself as a drunk driver, MyFoxAustin reported.

“Somebody’s really drunk driving down Granton Road,” Mary Strey said during an Oct. 24 call to 911, according to tapes.

Trying to determine the location of the reported drunk driver, the dispatcher asked Strey: “Okay are you behind them, or…”

“No, I am them,” Strey said, according to MyFoxAustin.

The dispatcher verified, “You am them?”

“Yes, I am them,” said Strey.

“Okay, so you want to call and report that you’re driving drunk?” confirmed the dispatcher.

“Yes,” said Strey.

The dispatcher then told Strey to pull her car over, MyFoxAustin reported.

According to a report, police said Strey had blood-shot eyes and smelled of alcohol.

“I called in I’m drunk,” Strey told the officer who responded to the call, MyFoxAustin reported.

A local paper reported that Strey was charged with drunk driving and had a blood-alcohol level of 0.1 percent or more.

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