Greene County reports more than 200 DWI arrests in '08

Springfield, MO

A state grant from the Missouri Department of Transportation is helping Greene County deputies get drunk drivers off the road.

The Greene County Sheriff's office announced Tuesday deputies have arrested 207 impaired drivers so far in 2008. The number covers the time period of January through June.

The department is crediting much of the DWI enforcement success to a grant from MoDOT that provides overtime pay to off-duty deputies.

According to a news release issued Tuesday, deputies made most of those arrests on primary roads that are most heavily traveled. In the coming months, deputies will target main roads leading into larger subdivisions, the release said.

The 207 arrests so far this year compare to 176 for the same period a year ago.

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Opinion: DUI checkpoints violate rights

Kansas City, MO

The details surrounding the DUI checkpoint article (7/5, A-1, “Checkpoints result in low DUI arrest rates”) is an example of why we Americans have lost many of our freedoms.

Generally, the article debated the justification for DUI checkpoints based on two questions: Are DUI checkpoints cost-effective and productive enough? There should have been a much more important, third question: Are DUI checkpoints an unreasonable infringement upon innocent citizens’ constitutional rights?

In a society that promises lawful citizens maximum freedom, which American did at one time, if there is no evidence to connect you to a crime, then the police should have absolutely no power over you.

A free society does not allow, even for a good cause, the police to order you to stop so they can “investigate” you to see if perhaps you have committed a yet-undiscovered crime. If such police behavior is allowed to continue, it will likely be expanded upon. This means that at some point the police will be able to stop you when walking on the street so that they can “investigate” you.

This is not the America I want to live in.

Larry McMeins
Olathe

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Missouri State Highway Patrol nets 40 drunken drivers in Troop F

Lake of the Ozarks, MO

Highway Patrol troopers in central Missouri were responsible for 40 of the 195 driving while intoxicated arrests over the July Fourth holiday weekend.

Officers in Troop C and Troop A each had about 30 DWI arrests.

Troop C covers counties in the eastern part of the state including St. Louis while Troup A includes Kansas City.

'The numbers are about normal for the size of the troop,' Highway Patrol Cpt. J. Tim Hull said.

Troop F officers in central Missouri also investigated 37 vehicle accidents, 24 of which had injuries. One was fatal.

At about 10:30 p.m. Thursday, July 3, Vincent T. Ward, 39, of Eldon, was killed after being thrown from the 2002 Silverado he was driving after crossing the center line, overcorrecting and running off the right side of the road.

The truck then overturned several times. He was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the accident, according to the Highway Patrol's report.

A passenger in the truck, Shelley P. Ward, 42, suffered minor injuries but refused treatment.

She was listed as wearing a selt belt.

The accident was on Route CC at Northridge Drive outside Eldon.

Highway Patrol started counting at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 3 and ended at 11:59 p.m., Sunday, July 6.

Because this year's holiday was on a weekday, the counting period was extended to 78 hours compared to last year's 30-hour period.

Troopers made 50 DWI arrests during the 30-hour counting period last year, compared to this year's 195 over 78 hours.

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Missouri boating while intoxicated (BWI) standard drops to 0.08 percent

Jefferson City, MO

Gov. Matt Blunt has approved tougher rules for boating while intoxicated, making the threshold for drunken boating on lakes and major rivers the same as for motorists.

The governor signed legislation that lowers the legal blood-alcohol limit to 0.08 percent, which has been the limit for roadways since 2001. Blunt signed the bill at the Lake of the Ozarks, a popular vacation destination that's become known for large boats and a raunchy "Party Cove."

But Independence Day revealers from across the Midwest who flock to the lake won't have to worry about drinking less until next year. That's because the lower legal blood-alcohol limit won't take effect until Aug. 28 when the summer boating season is almost over.

In a written statement, Blunt said the same standard should apply for motorists and boaters.

Water Patrol spokesman Sgt. Jerry Callahan said that, except for coordinated drunken boating checkpoints, police generally identify drunken boaters after stopping them for another violation.

Callahan said the lower blood-alcohol threshold would give officers more time after identifying a drunken boater, which is important in those types of cases.

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Five arrested in Greene County DWI saturation patrol

Springfield, MO

Five people were arrested during a DWI saturation late Saturday and early today, the Greene County Sheriff’s Department said.

Six deputies targeted the most heavily traveled roads in the greater Springfield metropolitan area from 10 p.m. Saturday to 3 a.m. today. The result was the arrest of five impaired drivers, including one illegal alien, authorities said.

The operation was made possible by funding from the Missouri Department of Transportation.

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Columbia man arrested for DWI after crash

Columbia, MO

A Columbia woman was injured early yesterday in a two-vehicle collision allegedly caused by a drunken driver.

Maja A. Hill, 64, of Columbia was treated at Boone Hospital Center and released after the 1:10 a.m. collision at Route Z and St. Charles Road, the Missouri State Highway Patrol said.

Hill was northbound on Route Z when a westbound Ford pickup drove into Hill’s path, and the vehicles collided.

The driver of the pickup later was arrested on suspicion of a third offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI), driving while his license was revoked and failure to yield at an intersection, according to a highway patrol arrest report.

He was released from the Boone County Jail after posting a $4,500 bond.

The driver pleaded guilty in July 2006 in Boone County to leaving the scene of a motor vehicle accident and excessive blood-alcohol level, according to court records. He received a six-month suspended jail sentence and was placed on two years of unsupervised probation.

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Blunt signs bill requiring ignition interlocks for repeat drunk drivers

Jefferson City, MO

The state of Missouri is making changes to ensure that those convicted of drunk driving more than once have to use ignition interlock devices on their cars.

In 2005, of the 3,163 repeat DUI offenders, only 19 percent were required by the courts to install the interlocks. Governor Matt Blunt says legislation he signed Thursday that shifts the responsibility for the devices from the courts to the Department of Revenue.

"What we're passing today will ensure that in the future, going forward, there will really be an administrative procedure, the Department of Revenue will develop a good standard operating procedure to ensure that people don't slip through the cracks," he said.

The legislation also closes a loophole in state law, allowing municipal DWI's to count against a defendant who could be charged as a persistent offender.

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