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The newspaper accounts included regiment information and blood alcohol content. Silhouettes were used when photos were not available.

KELSO, Wash. -- When a man who was suspected of drunken driving in Longview refused to give blood and urine samples he was taken to a hospital. His lawyer says he was held down kicking and screaming for a blood draw. And a tube was inserted into his bladder to withdraw the urine. He sued Cowlitz County. A settlement was reached Friday in which he was paid $15,000, without authorities admitting they did anything wrong. The 37-year-old man, Matthew Clifford Arthur, was on probation at the time of the arrest in November and was required to undergo screening for drugs...

MOCKING SID ON YOUTUBE Clinton aide's DWI trial is postponed By ANDREW WOLFE Telegraph Staff awolfe@nashuatelegraph.com Documents related to the Blumenthal DWI charge. NASHUA – A judge agreed Tuesday to postpone the trial of a Clinton campaign adviser accused of speeding through Nashua while intoxicated. Sidney Blumenthal, 59, of Washington, D.C., had been scheduled to stand trial on an aggravated DWI charge Thursday in Nashua District Court, but his case has been postponed to April 7, at his lawyer's request, court documents show. Blumenthal's lawyer, retired Hudson police Capt. Ray Mello, of Nashua, could not be reached for comment...

Finally, common sense prevails in dealing with the state's laws on driving under the influence of liquor and drugs. A bill steeped in election-year, get-tough-on-crime grandstanding has quietly gone to the burial ground for bad bills in the state Legislature. It failed to make it out of the Senate Transportation Committee before Tuesday's deadline. Senate Bill 6402 would have required people convicted of a DUI infraction to put fluorescent-yellow license plates on their cars for one year after having their driving privileges restored. Who knows why overreaching bills even get a hearing in Olympia, as this one did last week...

A Clinton campaign adviser will skip arraignment on an aggravated driving while intoxicated charge and is scheduled to stand trial next month, Nashua District Court records show. Sidney Blumenthal, 59, of Washington, D.C., was arrested after midnight Jan. 7, a day before the New Hampshire primary. Sgt. Michael Masella said he spotted Blumenthal’s rented Buick heading north on Concord Street in the area of Greeley Park, allegedly at about 70 miles an hour.

NASHUA, New Hampshire (AP) – A senior adviser to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton was arrested and charged with aggravated drunken driving a day before the New Hampshire primary. Nashua police say Sidney Blumenthal was arrested early Monday morning after an officer pulled over a car traveling 70 mph in a 30 mph zone. Blumenthal, 59, is a journalist and former White House adviser to President Bill Clinton who is now serving as an unpaid adviser on Hillary Clinton's campaign.

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A senior adviser to Hillary Clinton was arrested in Nashua, N.H., on charges of aggravated driving while intoxicated the day before the Jan. 8 primary, according to an article Saturday in the Nashua Telegraph. The Telegraph reported that Sidney Blumenthal was given a field sobriety test by a Nashua officer who pulled him over for going 40 miles over the 30-mph speed limit at about 12:30 a.m. Jan. 7. The officer reportedly smelled alcohol and arrested Blumenthal following the sobriety test. He refused to take a breath test.

In Fairbanks, Alaska, it's illegal to serve liquor to a moose. By contrast, in Ohio it's legal to serve booze to a fish, but not if you get it drunk. Ever since the repeal of Prohibition, alcohol laws in this country have been a bit nutty. Take the business of bars. Some states mandate sitting, while others require standing at the bar to drink. Texans may take up to but not more than three sips of beer while standing. Some jurisdictions require the interior of public drinking establishments to be visible from the street; others specifically prohibit that. In Iowa...

Five members of a Maryland family died late yesterday when their minivan was hit head-on by a pickup truck going the wrong way on a Toledo, Ohio-area interstate, according to the Toledo Blade. Bethany Griffin, 36, and Jordan Griffin, 10, of Parkville, Md., to the northeast of Baltimore, were pronounced dead at the scene, along with Lacie Burkman, 7, and Haley Burkman, 10, police sources told the Blade. Lacie and Haley Burkman are from Redford, Mich., according to the Associated Press. Six-month-old Vadi Griffin was pronounced dead after being taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Danny Griffin, 36, of...

Drunken drivers, consider yourself warned: The cops will be out for blood. Motorists on Fort Worth roads who refuse to take a breath test after being stopped for suspected drunken driving on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day will have their blood drawn to determine whether they are impaired. "If you refuse to take that blood test, we are going to ask for a warrant from a magistrate and come back and take your blood," said Fort Worth Police Chief Ralph Mendoza. "Basically, we are going to get our evidence one way or the other." For the first time,...

Court testimony earlier this month that a repeat drunken driver was a skilled X-ray technician and should be spared a seven-year prison sentence did not disclose that the man has not been licensed in his field for almost two years. Hector De la Torre’s state license as a medical radiologic technologist expired Dec. 31, 2005, Stephanie Tijerina of the Texas Department of State Health Services said Wednesday. On Dec. 6, after hearing testimony from Dr. Juan Rocha and others in the medical field, state District Court Judge Benjamin Euresti placed De la Torre on probation so he could return to...

BROWNSVILLE — A repeat drunken driving offender whose seven-year prison sentence was suspended got out of jail after serving just 36 days, records show. Hector de la Torre, 34, was released Dec. 6, the same day state District Judge Ben Euresti Jr. reconsidered the seven-year prison sentence he gave De la Torre for violating probation from a 2004 drunken driving arrest, court records show. Euresti suspended the sentence and reinstated probation. The revised sentence included a condition that De la Torre spend 60 days in jail, minus time already served, the court records show. He was released the same day...

A conviction for driving under the influence of alcohol is something many people try to conceal, even from their families. But now the bleary-eyed, disheveled and generally miserable visages of convicted drunken drivers here, captured in their mug shots, are available to the entire world via a Web site. The hall of shame is even worse for drunken drivers convicted of a felony. A select few will find their faces plastered on billboards around Phoenix with the banner headline: Drive drunk, see your mug shot here. The Web site and billboards, which began last month, are the brainchildren of Andrew...

LOS ANGELES - Kiefer Sutherland was sentenced Wednesday to 48 days in jail for racking up a second drunken-driving arrest in three years and immediately reported to a city lockup. The star of the Fox TV drama "24" was being processed at the Glendale city jail, said Officer John Balian. Sutherland, 40, who pleaded no contest in October to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit of .08, appeared in court with his attorney and politely answered the judge's questions, said Assistant City Attorney Dan Jeffries. His request to serve his time at the Glendale city jail was...

Careful about doling out glasses of spiked eggnog to the college-aged kids in your family this Christmas. A glassful could cost you your license, even if no one gets near a car. North Carolina is taking bans on booze to a new level as part of a passel of legislation that also bans alcohol inhalers and changes requirements for ankle bracelets for boozers: "As of Saturday, people can lose their driver's licenses for providing alcohol to anyone under 21. The penalty is important because many underage drinkers get alcohol from friends or family members, said Craig Lloyd, the executive director...

Investigative reporter Wendy Saltzman discovered more than 100 law enforcement officers have been arrested in Georgia for driving under the influence. Her investigation found some of them asked for favors, some wrecked department cars, and some were given special treatment. "I think that is outrageous frankly," said police psychologist Dr. Anthony Stone. "I can't imagine their being fit for duty, because almost by definition they have a drinking problem," Stone said. Habersham County Sheriff’s Captain Freddie Chapman has been arrested 4 times on alcohol related charges spanning back to an underage alcohol violation in 1988. His offenses also include three...

Vallejo -- Openly gay Vallejo City Councilman Gary Cloutier won the mayor's race by four votes, elections officials said this afternoon, just hours after the councilman apologized for his weekend arrest for public intoxication after drinking too much at a bar in Palm Springs. Cloutier beat former Solano County supervisor Osby Davis by a hair-thin margin of 5,722 to 5,718 votes, according to final results from the Nov. 6 election. Assistant registrar of voters Lindsay McWilliams said he expects to certify the results as final on Monday. The mayor's race has been in a virtual dead heat since Nov. 6,...

October 31, 2007 - A fourth person is dead because of a grinding crash Monday night in Newark. Delaware State Police investigators report the driver of the Honda, Matthew Wilson, 23, died Tuesday night because of his injuries. The sole survivor of the BMW, Hector Villa Gran-Merida, 18, is out of a coma, but still in critical condition. The driver of the BMW, Israel Palmero Merida, 17, did not have a drivers license. Police believe drunk driving and speeding led to the horrific crash that killed four people and critically injured one other in Newark, Delaware Monday night. Around 9:45...

On a May night in 2005, Debra Bolton, a lawyer and single mom from the Washington suburb of Alexandria, Virginia, was leaving the Café Milano in Georgetown after socializing with some friends. She had driven her SUV only a few hundred yards before she was pulled over by D.C. police for driving with the headlights off. She told the officer the parking attendant at Café Milano probably had turned off her vehicle's automatic light feature. Not mollified, the officer asked Bolton to step out of the car, walk in a straight line, recite the alphabet, stand on one foot, and...

HONOLULU (AP) - Another actor on the hit TV series "Lost" was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving early Thursday by Honolulu police—the fourth actor on the ABC series to run into trouble with the law while filming in Hawaii. Daniel Dae Kim, who plays Korean tough guy Jin-Soo Kwon, was taken into custody before 3 a.m. local time, police said. He was booked at the downtown police station and released after posting bail. Wearing a solid-white polo shirt and shorts, Kim hid his head from cameras as he was escorted by police officers to a waiting vehicle after his...

There have been an increasing number of police departments allowing their officers to draw blood samples from motorists under suspicion of a DUI/DWI. This takes place on the roadside as opposed to a hospital where there are trained medical professionals. It seems like a recipe for disaster to allow officers to do blood draws when they do not have adequate medical training. This has proven true in Arizona recently where a lawsuit has been filed to stop this practice. According to Scripps News, a man developed a persistent infection at the site of a blood draw administered by a Pima...

TAMPA - Had a few drinks before getting behind the wheel? Think again. That harmless-looking minivan in the rearview mirror might be the neighbors on patrol. That's how Mothers Against Drunk Driving pitched its latest plan to get impaired drivers off the roads. Called the Traffic Observation Program, the pilot program is slated to begin in Hillsborough County and may become a statewide initiative, according to Don Murray, Florida's executive director for MADD. The plan: Recruit 20 volunteers armed with donated cell phones and send them out in the middle of the night to watch for telltale signs of drunk...

WAVERLY, Ohio (AP) — Nearly 100 drunken-driving suspects in this southern Ohio town avoided convictions or jail time last year after making voluntary $1,000 donations to the police department, county records show. More than a third of the drunken-driving cases filed by Waverly police in Pike County Court last year were dismissed, according to a report published Sunday in The Columbus Dispatch.

SACRAMENTO -- Having already laid down the law for his two teenage daughters, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Thursday that will prohibit the rest of Californians under age 18 from using cellphones, text message devices and laptop computers while driving. Read more at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/la-me-cellphones14sep14,1,4297013.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

The executive director of the state Democratic Party took a leave of absence Thursday after he was arrested on a count of third-offense DWI. John Daniel “Danny” Ford, 31, was arrested Thursday by city police, Parish Prison booking documents said. Besides being suspected of driving while intoxicated, Ford was cited for driving over the median, failure to signal and reckless operation of a vehicle, booking documents said. Ford, 143 Cloud Drive, is out of jail on a $20,000 bond, documents show. Ford will step down temporarily from the Democratic Party’s top administrative job at a time when the fall election...

SARASOTA -- The company that manufactures the state's drunken-driving breath-test machines must turn over the computer code that runs the machines or face stiff fines, a county judge has ruled. Defense attorneys have argued that having their experts examine the Intoxilyzer 8000's "source code" is the only way to ensure the machines correctly calculate a driver's blood-alcohol content. The Intoxilyzer 8000's first glitch was discovered in April, a month after it was implemented, when state officials realized it failed in certain situations. The state then upgraded the software in machines across the state. In Manatee and Sarasota counties, more than...

Texas and other border states have suffered as a result of illegal immigration for years. And we've received zero help from the northern states until some of that pain and suffering began to “migrate” north into their backyards and have a negative effect upon them. But that’s what we’ve learned to expect from the more self-centered segment of our U.S. population in the north/northeast. Ha! And so now it seems that they are on board with us and, hey, better late than never. Welcome aboard! We luv ya! So now that most of the nation is on the same page,...

The New Mexico chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving has plenty to celebrate. The organization on July 25 held a grand opening for its new headquarters Downtown and received a $400,000 grant from the state Traffic Safety Bureau to monitor DWI cases in six counties, including Bernalillo, said Terry Huertaz, executive director of MADD New Mexico. The organization will hire five full-time court monitors to track DWI cases at random and to gather data for an annual report, Huertaz said. "We're hoping our presence in the court will be a positive thing. We're not there to find something corrupt, but...

By FRANK ELTMAN Associated Press Writer MINEOLA, N.Y. (AP) - A man convicted of murder in a drunken driving crash pleaded not guilty Friday to a new charge that he tried to foil a DNA test by slipping someone else's saliva into his mouth. Martin Heidgen's attorney protested that his client was being targeted by prosecutors unhappy that Heidgen did not get the maximum sentence in the crash, which killed a wedding chauffeur and flower girl. Heidgen was indicted Thursday on a charge of evidence tampering. Prosecutors said a DNA sample ordered during his trial revealed the presence of not...

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On This Day In History July 18, 1969: Incident on Chappaquiddick Island Shortly after leaving a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy of Massachusetts drives an Oldsmobile off a wooden bridge into a tide-swept pond. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but his passenger, 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne, did not. The senator did not report the fatal car accident for 10 hours. On the evening of July 18, 1969, while most Americans were home watching television reports on the progress of the Apollo 11 lunar landing mission, Kennedy and his cousin Joe Gargan were hosting a cookout and party...

Al Gore's son, Albert Gore III, has been arrested. Al Gore III was pulled over for speeding Wednesday morning when police discovered drugs in his car. Al Gore III was pulled over for doing 100 mph when police discovered illegal drugs and several prescription drugs in the vehicle. Police reportedly found Marijuana, Xanax, Vicodin, Valium, and Adderal in the car. Al Gore III had a similar run-in with officials back in 2003 when he was sent to rehab after police spotted him driving in freezing cold weather with his sunroof down. Police stopped him and found Marijuana in the car.

CULPEPER, Va. (AP) - Two people police say were hoping to avoid drinking and driving chose instead to head home on horseback, and ended up under arrest anyway. Culpeper police officers Lonnie Myers and Tim Chilton heard a disturbance last Thursday around midnight and found Culpeper residents Eric Kyff and Lauren Allen arguing, Sgt. Scott Jenkins said. Kyff and Allen, who appeared to be intoxicated, wanted to "travel home several miles by horseback to avoid drinking and driving," Jenkins said. Kyff, 39, took off along a nearby set of railroad tracks but was stopped shortly after by Chilton, police said....

JANESVILLE, Wis. — A driver who was stopped for speeding and tested over the legal limit for blood-alcohol content, but was not arrested, was killed less than three hours later Monday when his car hit a tree, according to police. Janesville police records indicate that Jason Stacy, 29, was seen speeding and driving erratically downtown shortly after 1 a.m. According to an analysis of police records by WISC-TV in Madison, Stacy was stopped and given a Breathalyzer test that indicated a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent. The legal limit in Wisconsin is 0.08. Stacy was ticketed for imprudent speed and...

SYRACUSE - A Syracuse man convicted of driving drunk for a seventh time since 1982 was sentenced Wednesday to 20 years to life in prison by a judge who blasted his “lethal disregard� for others. “I don't think there is anything I can do to protect the public from you and your conduct except to put you away for a long time,� Onondaga County Judge Joseph Fahey said as he sentenced 43-year-old Ronald Daggett. “It is inconceivable to me that someone involved in a drunk driving fatality could go out and pick up six more drunk driving convictions over the...

A former Monroe County Sheriff's deputy has been found not guilty of the most serious charge against him. The case involved a deadly drunk driving crash. James Telban was found not guilty of vehicular manslaughter, but he was found guilty on a charge of DWI, and failure to yield. The case dates back to September 6th of last year when Telban drove with a blood alcohol level 3 times the legal limit, and he pulled out into the path of motorcyclist Peter Volkmuth of Greece. Volkmuth died in that crash. Assistant District Attorney Chris Rodeman says unfortunately a judge did...

AUSTIN — State Rep. Harold Dutton, a Houston Democrat who is one of the longest-serving members of the Texas House, was arrested Wednesday night and charged with driving while intoxicated. Austin police noticed a 2007 Cadillac Escalade driving erratically around 11:30 p.m. west of downtown and pulled the vehicle over, a spokesman for the police department said Friday. Dutton, 62, was taken to the Travis County Jail and booked on the Class B misdemeanor, which carries a possible penalty of six months jail and up to $2,000 in fines. He was released on a personal recognizance bond about four hours...

LOS ANGELES - City prosecutors said Thursday they will ask a judge to revoke Paris Hilton's probation in a reckless driving case, a move that could lead to a jail term. The decision followed an investigation into whether the hotel heiress and reality star violated terms of her probation by driving last month with a suspended license."We're confident we have sufficient evidence to prove that her license was suspended and that she had knowledge of that suspension," said Nick Velasquez, a spokesman for the city attorney's office. He declined to elaborate on the evidence, citing an ongoing investigation.Hilton could face...

One of the state's top law enforcement officials and an anti-drunken driving advocate say they've never heard a DWI tale quite so alarming as that of Joseph Brill. Brill, 53, was arrested Wednesday evening in northeast Albuquerque on suspicion of his 28th DWI. He fell over when he got out of his vehicle and failed a field sobriety test ... A Metropolitan Court complaint said files indicate he has had 27 prior DWI offenses with at least 14 prior convictions. MVD records show that he has had his license revoked five times and that it was revoked at the time...

Sunday, February 25, 2007I yield to no man in my devotion to multitasking or my aversion to government poking its nanny-state snout into my business, OK? So if I could do something to keep the butt-inski state out of my life, I'd be right there -- especially if I could accomplish another task or two at the same time. But this conservative favors the proposed ban now before the Legislature on using cell phones while driving. I have come to understand the wisdom in Petrula Betsis' definition of multitasking: "screwing up a lot of things all at once." Silly me,...

A VICTIM CHALLENGES A REPEAT DUI OFFENDER Sarah Tangelder’s independence was shattered nearly six weeks ago. She can’t drive to work or go shopping by herself. The specially equipped car she strove to buy was totaled on Jan. 11 when she was hit head-on by Carl Leyba, who police say was driving drunk. Again. It was the fifth time he was picked up on suspicion of DUI. He’s been convicted three times. “Why was he driving at all?” said Tangelder, 25, a paraplegic since childhood. Court records show Leyba, 36, has a history of being a menace on the road....

Over the past several years, three states have passed legislation mandating special license plates for repeat convicted DWI offenders. Now, Rep. Pam Adcock wants The Natural State added to the list. "My mind is to make sure you, while you are driving on the streets, that you have a little extra safety measure," says Adcock. According to the Arkansas Office of Driver Services, in 2005 there were nearly 600 third-time offenders. That's down from almost 670 in 2004. However, Teresa Belew with Mother's Against Drunk Driving (MADD) says any number should not be tolerated. "This is not someone that is...

SANTA FE -- New Mexico has taken its fight against drunken driving to men's restrooms around the state. The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-DWI message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel. The top of the devices feature the state DWI slogan -- "You drink, you drive, you lose." Some Albuquerque bars installed the devices this week. And the state Transportation Department plans to distribute them to Santa Fe bars and restaurants as well as establishments in Farmington, Gallup and Las Cruces....

SANTA FE New Mexico is taking its fight against drunken driving to men's restrooms around the state. The state has ordered 500 talking urinal cakes that will deliver a recorded anti-D-W-I message to bar and restaurant patrons who make one last pit stop before getting behind the wheel. The top of the devices feature the state D-W-I slogan -- "You drink, you drive, you lose." Some Albuquerque bars installed the devices this week. And the state Transportation Department plans to distribute them to Santa Fe bars and restaurants as well as establishments in Farmington, Gallup and Las Cruces. The state...

BARRE, Vt. -- Put down the flute and keep your eyes on the road. And forget about sipping that cup of coffee on the way to work, or smoking a cigarette on the way home. In some states, it could soon be illegal -- if it isn't already. Emboldened by the passage of cell phone bans for drivers in some communities, states are turning their attention to other things that drive motorists to distraction. Vermont lawmakers are considering a measure that would ban eating, drinking, smoking, reading, writing, personal grooming, playing an instrument, "interacting with pets or cargo," talking on...

Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. has been arrested on suspicion of drunk driving and hit-and-run, Nevada police said on Friday. Unser was taken into custody near Henderson, Nevada, on Thursday after he failed field sobriety tests given to him by officers investigating a hit-and-run, Nevada State Trooper Kevin Honea said. Unser, 44, was booked on charges of hit-and-run, failing to report an accident, making an unsafe lane change and driving under the influence of alcohol. Honea said troopers responded to an accident outside Las Vegas shortly after 11 a.m. on Thursday in which a car crashed into a...

Missouri: Police Roadblock Harassment Caught on TapeSt. Louis County, Missouri threaten to arrest a teenager for refusing to discuss his personal travel plans. A teenager harassed by police in St. Louis, Missouri caught the incident on tape. Brett Darrow, 19, had his video camera rolling last month as he drove his 1997 Maxima, minding his own business. He approached a drunk driving roadblock where he was stopped, detained and threatened with arrest when he declined to enter a conversation with a police officer about his personal travel habits. Now Darrow is considering filing suit against St. Louis County Police. "I'm...

TOKYO (AP) - Toyota Motor Corp. (TM) is developing a fail-safe system for cars that detects drunken drivers and automatically shuts the vehicle down if sensors pick up signs of excessive alcohol consumption, a news report said Wednesday. Cars fitted with the detection system will not start if sweat sensors in the driving wheel detect high levels of alcohol in the driver's bloodstream, according to a report carried by the mass-circulation daily, Asahi Shimbun.

Backgrounder: The town (Attleboro, Massachusetts) in which this outrageous incident of political favor took place is the same town which recently banned school children from playing "tag" and which has been proudly returning Barney Frank (D-liberal gay) to Congress since 1981 and Teddy Kennedy (D-drunken murderer) to the US Senate even longer. As reported in this space on December 16; Clinton friend and Massachusetts Democrat heavy-weight Suzanne Magaziner (wife of Ira Magaziner of the Hildebeast’s health care debacle fame) was busted on Interstate 95 in Mass and charged with driving while intoxicated. Also reported in this space the ADA handling...