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At age 18, an American can enlist in the military, vote, sign a contract, get married, have an operation -- hey, in California, a 14-year-old can have an abortion without telling her parents -- but he cannot buy a beer. Not legally, anyway. It makes absolutely no sense, and it is shameful that my generation, which won the right to vote at age 18, continues to infantilize people who are allowed to make life-and-death decisions on every issue, save one. We believe in rights -- except for college-age kids -- even if they are serving in the military. Enter the...

What happens when presidents from more than 100 of the nation's best-known colleges call on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18? Well, a brigade of hyperbolic mommies start screaming at them, that's what. In the Amethyst Initiative, college presidents have offered a rational, if counterintuitive, plan. Let's stop treating young adults like wards of the state. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (naturally) replied: No debate allowed. There is plenty of empirical evidence suggesting that the drinking age of 21 is counterproductive. To begin with, it bars parents from educating their own children about alcohol and, like...

If you’re not a convicted drunk driver, should you still be required to have an in-car breathalyzer fitted (at your expense, ‘natch) to your next new vehicle? Apparently, some automakers — including GM and Toyota — think so. They and a few others are working together under the auspices of something called the Driver Alcohol Detection System for Safety, which is a $10 million federal “research program” that is trying to develop just such technology for mass introduction a few years from now. At the moment, the only people who have to deal with (and pay for) in-car Breathalyzers are...

Heather Squires was the designated driver. Never exactly a fun thing, but a college buddy of her husband's was driving up from Tucson to celebrate his acceptance into law school. So when her husband, Jason, asked, Heather said yes. It's not safe to be the designated driver these days, either. At Chuy's in Tempe, Heather's brother and her husband and the soon-to-be-law-school student knocked off four pitchers of beer. Everybody was having a great time. Around 9:30 p.m., they decided to head home. So they piled into Jason Squires' new pickup truck. As planned, Heather drove. They didn't get very...

El Camino teens face heavy emotions brought about by drunken-driving dramatization OCEANSIDE – It was an elaborate hoax, but 36 students at El Camino High pulled it off with potentially life-saving consequences. The result was a soberingly realistic dramatization about the dangers of drinking and driving, delivered with surprising professionalism. Many juniors and seniors were driven to tears – a few to near hysterics – May 26 when a uniformed police officer arrived in several classrooms to notify them that a fellow student had been killed in a drunken-driving accident. The officer read a brief eulogy, placed a rose on...

Anyone who refuses to submit to a blood-alcohol breath test this weekend will be required to have his or her blood drawn, authorities said Tuesday in reminding residents of a new program scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Friday. District Attorney Susan Reed said the ‘No Refusal Accepted' program is scheduled to continue through 7 a.m. Tuesday. A registered nurse will be on duty both at the San Antonio magistrate's office and the detention center to draw blood from anyone arrested on suspicion of drunken driving who refused at the scene to take a breath test. Prosecutors will assist with...

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...

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...

Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon has been charged with driving under the influence stemming from a traffic stop in late December. According to police, Moon was driving an SUV with expired plates when he was pulled over early on Dec. 28 in Medina, Wa. A police officer smelled "intoxicants" in the vehicle, and Moon refused a field sobriety test and a breath test. He was arrested for investigation of DUI and driving with a suspended license and released later the same day by the Kirkland Police Department.

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...

More Texas jurisdictions are turning to forced blood draws to convict those suspected of DUI. Jurisdictions within Texas are expanding programs where police use force to draw blood from motorists accused of driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI). Last week, El Paso announced it had joined Harris and Wilson Counties in a "no refusal" program specifically designed to streamline the blood drawing process. It works as follows. An accused motorist is arrested and taken downtown. While being videotaped, he will be asked to submit to a breathalyzer test with officers specifically avoiding any mention that blood will be taken...

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...

Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) was founded in 1980 with the mission “…to stop drunk driving and support the victims of this violent crime. ” That’s a big, if not impossible goal, “to stop drunk driving”. One way MADD is trying to stop drunk driving this holiday season is through their “Tie One on for Safety” campaign. According the the Leaf Chronicle (12.10.07), the Tennessee office of MADD is distributing over 10,000 red ribbons state-wide to raise drunk driving awareness. According to the article, the red ribbon campaign has three stated goals 1. “high visibility of officers, meaning many officers...

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...

CHEYENNE -- A state trooper lost his job last week for “flagrant and inappropriate” methods he used during an April 7 bust that netted $3.3 million. But that hasn't slowed efforts by the U.S. attorney's office to seek forfeiture of the cash in civil court. Wyoming U.S. attorney spokesman John Powell said it's unclear whether Peech's actions will be a factor in the case, or how they might influence a judge's decision. “We're not going to stop pursuing the forfeiture action at this time,” Powell said. The decision to press forward with the forfeiture has heightened questions about the dismissal...

Michelle Dallacroce was hopping mad when she received a letter from Mothers Against Drunk Driving demanding she change the name of her organization, Mothers Against Illegal Aliens. "I couldn't believe it," Mrs. Dallacroce said. "I don't know who would be confused by this. We don't even have the same acronym." Mrs. Dallacroce, president of the Phoenix-based advocacy group, received a certified letter Oct. 10 stating that MADD owns the rights to the name "Mothers Against" and giving her 10 days to stop using it. "While we do not oppose the name of your organization as a whole, we cannot permit...

A 27-year-old woman was arrested after she was seen holding her 5-year-old son out the front passenger window of a slow-moving sport utility vehicle Wednesday night, Pinellas Park police said. At a different point, Christina Adams was seen leaning out the window and holding her son's hand, making him keep up with the moving vehicle as it traveled in a neighborhood in the vicinity of 66th Avenue and 43rd Street about 11:45 p.m., police said. There was a witness in each instance, police said. When the vehicle was stopped, Adams appeared to be extremely drunk and was belligerent, police said....

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...

LANSING, Mich. (AP) - A federal judge says forcing non-drivers in Michigan to submit to preliminary breath tests without a search warrant is unconsitutional. U.S. District Judge David Lawson issued an injunction Wednesday blocking enforcement of a state law that penalizes pedestrians under 21 who refuse such a test. The American Civil Liberties Union says Michigan is the only state in the country that requires pedestrians to submit to a breath test without a warrant. The ACLU filed suit on behalf of four college students who had to blow into portable breath testers. Defendants in the case include the Michigan...

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...

"Pre-emptive war" got us into a real mess in Iraq. So maybe we ought to think twice before adopting similar measures when it comes to traffic law. Specifically, when it comes to an idea floated by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to require that all new cars be fitted with an ignition interlock that can detect alcohol in the driver's system -- and shut the car down if it does. Several large automakers (including GM, Ford, Toyota and Honda) also support the idea -- and are working on ways to get these things into new cars, maybe within the next...

WASHINGTON (AP) - Amtrak is trying to gin up new business by offering $100 in free alcohol to customers on some overnight trains. The national passenger rail company is making the unusual offer to promote a new high-end service being offered on a trial basis for certain sleeper car trips. Members of Amtrak's guest rewards program—the railroad equivalent of frequent fliers—can get a $100 per person credit for alcohol between November and January. The offer of free drinks comes on top of the dinner wine that is already included in the cost of a ticket for GrandLuxe trips on the...

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...

WASHINGTON – Alcohol-related deaths on U.S. roads rose to their highest level in 14 years in 2006, while the overall number of people killed in traffic crashes declined slightly but still topped 43,000, according to preliminary government estimates Friday. The Transportation Department said that drunken driving deaths rose 2.4 percent to 17,941 after a slight decline in 2005. It was the highest level since 1992 when 18,290 deaths were reported. Alcohol-related fatalities accounted for 41 percent of all traffic deaths, which dropped less than 1 percent last year to 43,300. Annual auto deaths have hovered around 43,000 for the past...

A city police officer who recently received an award from Mothers Against Drunk Driving has been charged with drunken driving, authorities said. Specialist Charles Beebe's SUV was pulled over Wednesday in Aurora, Ind., after a motorist reported that he had forced two vehicles off the road, the arresting officer's report said. Beebe failed a field sobriety test and agreed to a chemical test. His blood-alcohol content was 0.08 percent, the point at which a motorist is considered legally drunk in Indiana, according to the arrest report. Beebe, 54, pleaded not guilty Thursday in Lawrenceburg, Ind., and was released on $1,500...

In the first four years of Operation Iraqi Freedom, 563 Americans under the age of 21 were killed in the line of duty. These citizen soldiers were old enough to vote, old enough to put on military uniforms, and old enough to die for their country: They were old enough to do just about anything, except drink a red-white-and-blue can of Budweiser. Apparently they weren’t grown-up enough to enjoy that privilege. That’s because when it comes to alcohol, the United States is more like Indonesia, Mongolia, and Palau than the rest of the world: It is one of just four...

It's been 20 years that America has had a minimum federal drinking age. The policy began to gain momentum in the early 1980s, when the increasingly influential Mothers Against Drunk Driving added the federal minimum drinking age to its legislative agenda. By 1984, it had won over a majority of the Congress. President Reagan initially opposed the law on federalism grounds but eventually was persuaded by his transportation secretary at the time, now-Sen. Elizabeth Dole. Over the next three years every state had to choose between adopting the standard or forgoing federal highway funding; most complied. A few held out...

To combat underage binge drinking, the national legal drinking age should be lowered to 18, a former college president is saying. Since releasing a 250-page study on the societal effects of modern drinking laws, Middlebury College President emeritus John McCardell has campaigned across the country calling for states to lower the legal drinking age to 18 because he observed fewer alcohol-related problems 30 years ago, when 18-year-olds could legally drink. "Before the law changed, it wasn't perfect," McCardell said. "But what you had then was out-in-the-open, intergenerational [drinking]." Since then, McCardell, who is launching the nonprofit group Choose Responsibility this...

CBS) Rick Berman takes a certain pride, even joy, in the nickname Dr. Evil. But the people who use it see nothing funny about it—they mean it. His real name is Rick Berman, a Washington lobbyist and arch-enemy of other lobbyists and do-gooders who would have government control, and even ban, a myriad of products they claim are killing us. Products like caffeine, salt, fast food and the oil they fry it in. He's against Mothers Against Drunk Driving, animal rights activists, food watchdog groups and unions of every kind. As correspondent Morley Safer reports, Berman believes we are fast...

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...

The founder of MADD Canada, who spoke out against the national organization's fundraising practices, has been stripped of his role on the charity's two key committees. "I feel betrayed," said John Bates, 79, whose quarter-century battle against drinking and driving earned him the Order of Canada. Bates learned Monday evening he was gone from the charity's finance and policy committees, which monitor the organization's expenditures and revenues, and set the tone for the charity. The news came to Bates during a brief teleconference involving five of the 17 board members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving. "This seems to be in...

A few months ago, Delaware state Rep. John C. Atkins was pulled over in Ocean City Maryland under suspicion of drunken driving. Immediately after getting pulled over, he flahsed his Delaware Legislature ID, after which the officer assured him that he wouldn't be arrested. Problem is, Atkins took a roadside breath test which came back at .14, well over the legal limit. Atkins wasn't arrested. His car wasn't impounded. He wasn't even fined. Instead, he was allowed to call a friend, who came to pick him up and take him home. Atkins was arrested hours later after a domestic dispute...

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...

LOS ANGELES — The reigning Miss Teen USA's official biography says she loves hiking, water sports and apples — "only cold, red ones!" But allegations of less innocent extracurricular activities — underage drinking and carousing with Miss USA Tara Conner — led the group Mothers Against Drunk Driving to sever ties with 18-year-old Katie Blair. "In the past, MADD has teamed with Miss Teen USA to raise awareness about the serious and often deadly consequences of underage drinking," said Heidi Castle, a spokeswoman for MADD, in a statement. "However, we do not feel, at this time, that Ms. Blair can...

People who donate to Mothers Against Drunk Driving are told by the charity that most of the $12 million it raises annually is spent on good works — stopping drunk driving and helping families traumatized by fatal crashes. But a Star investigation reveals most of the high-profile charity's money is spent on fundraising and administration, leaving only about 19 cents of each donor dollar for charitable works. MADD chief executive officer Andrew Murie defends the expenses, saying the paid telemarketers and door-knockers are actually performing good works because they educate the public as they ask for cash. That's a defence...

A New Strategy to Discourage Driving Drunk WASHINGTON, Nov. 19 — The threat of arrest and punishment, for decades the primary tactic against drunken drivers, is no longer working in the struggle to reduce the death toll, officials say, and they are proposing turning to technology — alcohol detection devices in every vehicle — to address the problem. In the first phase of the plan, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, backed by a national association of state highway officials and car manufacturers, will announce here on Monday a campaign to change drunken driving laws in 49 states to require that even...

A Private Members Bill to set a new 0.05% BAC legal limit for drinking and driving was introduced today by Kelowna British Columbia MP Ron Cannan. MADD Canada supports the MP's initiative because it will 'significantly reduce the numbers of Canadians being killed and injured in impaired driving crashes.' Mr. Cannan's Bill would introduce a new 0.05% BAC offence to complement the existing Criminal Code impaired driving offences. The new measures would differ from the current 0.08% BAC offence in three significant ways. First, the 0.05% BAC offence streamlines procedures and contains ticketing provisions. Second, the proposed offence contains lower...

In November 2000, Clinton signed a bill passed by Congress that ordered the states to adopt new, more onerous drunk-driving standards or face a loss of highway funds. That's right: the old highway extortion trick. Sure enough, states passed new, tighter laws against Driving Under the Influence, responding as expected to the feds' ransom note. The feds have declared that a blood-alcohol level of 0.08 percent and above is criminal and must be severely punished. The National Restaurant Association is exactly right that this is absurdly low. The overwhelming majority of accidents related to drunk driving involve repeat offenders with...

So you had a few drinks too many and, for the first time in your life, got pulled over on your way home. The prosecutor offers a simple deal: Instead of going to trial, you can plead guilty to driving while intoxicated and get probation. That's an easy one, right? For a surprising number of first-time DWI offenders in Harris County, however, the choice isn't so clear. Facing the stiff costs and strict rules that come with probation, thousands of convicted drivers in recent years have decided spending time behind bars is the better option. And in a county already...

A public advocacy group wants tougher laws for drinking and driving. But even Mothers Against Drunk Driving – long known for its efforts to keep boozy drivers off the road – said the proposal could do more harm than good. The Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation has proposed lowering the legal blood-alcohol limit from .08 percent - the current standard – to .05 percent. The change, the group said, would save lives on the road. But Mothers Against Drunk Driving is opposed, fearing a backlash could erode legal gains. "Do you know how hard it was to get it...

It was a case that prompted the president judge of Commonwealth Court to upbraid some judges for ignoring the constitution in the name of stopping drunk driving. At issue: If a police officer outside his jurisdiction stops a vehicle and the driver refuses to take an alcohol breath t est, can the license of the driver be suspended for a year? The answer is no, according to a ruling this week by the state Supreme Court. Police have grounds to make arrests outside of their jurisdiction when they see a "felony, misdemeanor, breach of peace or any other act which...

In most DUI investigations, the main evidence in determining whether there is probable cause to arrest is a battery of "field sobriety tests". Of course, if the officer administers the test incorrectly (as is commonly the case), the results are invalid -- and an innocent person may be arrested. So what is the correct way to give the tests and interpret them? It's all laid out online (pdf) in the 165-page DWI Detection and Standardized Field Sobriety Testing Student Manual (2004 edition), published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (USDOT) and widely used for training by law enforcement agencies...

[Quix note: The green bold emphases are in the original. But I'm too tired to code them here or even to pour it through Word to do it. Sorry. I did use some spacing, paragraphing for emphasis on the fly] = = = = = = Lengthy Mel Gibson Codes Presage DUI Incident The May 2004 issue of Bible Code Digest (BCD) featured an article http://www.biblecodedigest.com/page.php/232 [May 2004 original article] describing a 146-letter-long code about Mel Gibson. This astonishing code portrayed him as being guilty of something and of being "rotten." Interwoven codes further described him as hurrying and insulting...

FARMINGTON, N.M. (AP) - A Farmington attorney who was arrested for drunken driving, a charge eventually dropped by police, has filed a civil rights lawsuit against the city and Officer John Ahlm. Victor Titus claims he was arrested without probable cause and to humiliate and embarrass him. City Attorney Jay Burnham disagrees with Titus’ characterization. He says the officer didn’t violate any police department policies. Titus was charged with DWI and running a red light after being stopped last October 31. A breath test indicated Titus’ blood-alcohol level was 0.02 percent. The state’s presumed level of intoxication is 0.08 percent....

MINEOLA, N.Y. -- A district attorney elected last fall on a promise to limit plea bargains is being sued by a defense attorney who claims the prosecutor's new policies on DWI cases are unconstitutional. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice said she is not backing away from the changes, which include the creation of a separate courtroom for DWI cases. She also wants permanent criminal records for first-time offenders convicted of having a blood-alcohol level of 0.13 percent or more. The legal limit in the state is 0.08 percent. Rice has also stiffened her office's approach to plea deals, insisting...

McHenry County defense attorneys and prosecutors said they have noticed little change in area DUI cases since penalties for drunken driving were stiffened this year, but soon more defendants could face tougher penalties and staggering costs. As of this year, it is easier to be charged with felony drunken driving than ever before. In one change in the DUI laws, now even a first-time drunken-driving arrest can result in a felony charge in certain situations, and some defense attorneys think it is targeting the wrong people. If someone is arrested for drunken driving and does not have valid insurance or...

Cigarettes could slash blood-alcohol levels, making smokers drink more. A new study helps to explain why smokers tend to have boozier nights out than non-smokers. The work, done in rats, shows that a heavy dose of nicotine can cut blood-alcohol levels in half. If cigarettes similarly lower intoxication in people, it could mean that smokers need to drink more than non-smokers to get the same buzz... To mimic more closely the effect in human drinkers, (Texas A&M researcher Wei-Jung) Chen and his colleagues studied the effects of binge drinking in adult rats. They injected rats' stomachs with a dose of...

A new law that relaxes restrictions on how police can spend money collected from drunken driving fines could mean changes for big departments but probably not for smaller agencies that make fewer of those arrests, local police chiefs say. Police departments get $100 for each first-time drunken driving conviction resulting from an arrest made by its officers, and $200 for the second offense. Under the old law, police were required to use this money to buy equipment for the enforcement of alcohol-related crimes. Now, under a law that took effect at the end of last month, they can use the...

ALBUQUERQUE -- Bernalillo County Treasurer Patrick Padilla has been arrested for allegedly driving drunk on Interstate 40. Padilla was stopped Friday night after an officer reported he was tailgating an 18-wheeler on the freeway. Officers reported Padilla had bloodshot eyes and the odor of alcohol on his breath and arrested him after he failed a field sobriety test. However, when he took a breath test, officers said he registered an alcohol level of 0.05, which is below the legal limit of 0.08.