Posted on 08/20/2006 9:34:12 AM PDT by glorgau
First 3-of-7 drivers (including non-citizens) thru
Manteca sobriety checkpoint have no licenses What you are about to read isn’t politically correct.
But you’d better read it anyway. And the next time you climb behind the wheel of your vehicle you’d better act like it’s a matter of life and death when your turn the key in the ignition.
Manteca Police opened their first sobriety checkpoint Saturday at 9:30 p.m. in the 900 block of East Yosemite.
They struck pay dirt three times within the first seven vehicles to enter the checkpoint. When they pulled over the fourth vehicle after 20 had passed through, the police had to temporarily shut down checking licenses and drivers. They had too much business.
It sounds like good news if you want intoxicated drivers off the street. Well, here’s the clincher. They weren’t intoxicated. Each one of the first four vehicles pulled over had driver’s behind the wheel without a license. Now are you ready for the part that isn’t politically correct? Apparently two of the four drivers weren’t what you’d call legal residents of this country.
No, there was no racial profiling going on. No, what you are going to read below isn’t a tirade about closing our borders now.
But before you read on, you need to know something about the Manteca Police Department and — in a larger sense — about city leaders. Each jurisdiction has the option to impound vehicles. Even if it is a money loser, Manteca does it because it gets either unsafe or illegal drivers off the road. That means each of the four vehicles pulled over in the first 10 minutes — including a Mustang GT — is going to the impound yard for 30 days. That part of the bill is over $900 by itself. Then there is the impound storage fee, the towing costs and the fine. Driving illegally in Manteca will cost those four individuals at least $1,600 apiece.
Getting pulled over in a lot of other communities has no consequences of that degree as many cities don’t want to get caught holding the impound fee bill which they have to pay.
And in case you think it is only the down and out who are driving without licenses, you could describe the four vehicles as fairly desirable in terms of marketing appeal. Which means there’s a good chance they’ve bought fairly new vehicles and probably don’t have insurance. But as a law-abiding citizen who might meet a driver without a license and insurance up close and personal metal-to-metal, what do you care?
Now back to the politically incorrect part.
Do you remember the 28-year-old man who was ran over while crossing Yosemite Avenue just two blocks west of Saturday’s checkpoint earlier this month? That’s the one where the driver stopped and the guy along with his passenger got out, walked back to the crosswalk covered with blood, looked at the guy they ran over, and then casually walked back to their vehicle and drove off.
It was so callous that the cops didn’t want to release the victim’s name initially because it smelled like a domestic dispute. You know the type. Run the guy over. Go back to check your handiwork to make sure you did a good job and then leave him there to die.
Now for that politically incorrect part I was telling you about. The driver was a Manteca resident but he was here illegally. Whoops! You’re not supposed to interject the word “illegal” into a discussion of crime or social issues. You might get branded as a racist.
Fast forward to this week. Now why do you think two men would sideswipe a van on Highway 99 north of Lathrop Road, have their pickup truck roll and then get out of their vehicle in a bloody mess and flee before law enforcement arrived?
Stolen vehicle? Well, not in this case. Don’t want to speculate as it may be politically incorrect.
And what about the gang problem in Southside Park. There was a kingpin the cops wanted to take out for sure but they were able to break the back of the gang problem by arresting and turning over to immigration officials a half dozen — be careful I’m about to offend your political correctness — illegals.
This, in case you’re wondering, isn’t just a problem in Manteca. The CHP is recording a growing number of fatalities where drivers who have caused the mishaps are — surprise, surprise — illegals driving without licenses. It’s true licensed drivers who are legal residents get in accidents and kill people.
But if you did that in any nation reached by traveling Interstate 5 to its southernmost point you can land in jail for a long, long time.
Here you just get a notice to appear which means you’ll be long gone before there are any consequences to your actions.
Of course, we can make the issue of illegals driving without licenses go away by simply caving into pressure to have the California Legislature give illegals the right to a license which happens to be a gateway document to getting other privileges reserved for citizens.
But wait? What about vehicle insurance?
No problem. That’s also unfair. If you don’t have to be a citizen to get a driver’s license, why should a non-citizen have to follow the same rules of being able to be financially responsible to own and drive a vehicle?
After all, it isn’t fair that an illegal can’t just waltz into a DMV office and get a license or pony up to a polling place and vote. There are those who are, however, working overtime to right those two alleged wrongs.
But you need to ask yourself this question before you start screaming political incorrectness about what you have reward.
There is no law that gives the police authority to go after anyone who turns away from a checkpoint unless there is probable cause such as a traffic violation or something such as a headlight being out.
The four drivers without licenses saw the eight to 10 police vehicles with flashing lights and drove through the checkpoint anyway.
Why should they have fear? There are no consequences to their lawlessness.
The only mistake they made was being brazen about their illegal activity in a place like Manteca where the bean counters don’t have the upperhand. That means vehicles of such lawbreakers will be impounded for the maximum time allowed by law even if taxpayers get stuck holding the impound costs.
But rest assured that won’t happen. The value of each of the four vehicles impounded in the first five minutes of the sobriety checkpoint are easily five to seven times that $1,600 tab.
Think about it the next time you get in your car and go driving with your family.
Happy motoring!
To contact Dennis Wyatt, e-mail dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com
Didn't George Allen get in trouble for saying "Manteca?"
Who says they financed the cars? Many carry huge wads of bills and pay out of hand.
"Whoops! You’re not supposed to interject the word “illegal” into a discussion of crime or social issues. You might get branded as a racist."
That's what I said.
Yeah, and the first phone call you make after picking up the car, after "Marque dos por Espanol" is "Quisiera cancelar mi política."
No problem here, move along... move along...
macaca
I think it's a crying shame what they're doing to a great Dizzy Gillespie tune.
Scary, I bet the situation isn't much different here in Lodi, but I like the fact that Manteca impounds the vehicles and selss them if they are not redeemed.
Dear God. Does no one proof articles before publication any more? This entire piece is poorly written, and the grammar is atrocious.
Excellent commentary.
There are only 2 counties in the part of Virginia where I live (we're seperated from the rest of the state by the Chesapeake Bay) with a population of less than 100,000.......more than half of the fatal accidents here over the last few years have involved at least one illegal driver.....and not illegal in the sense of he/she shouldn't be driving for whatever reason, but illegal in the sense they DON'T BELONG IN THISD COUNTRY.
BTTT
Sing it with me now...
"Our roads are their roads,
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