I feel it is important at this time to show support for our City Council and Police Department. I hope the City wins the case Mr. Sherbrooke has bought against the PRPD and that Mr. Sherbrooke will be saddled with legal costs for both sides.
Do we really believe that, as Americans, we have the God given right to drink and drive? Only a handful of countries on the planet are with us at the .08 limit for a DUI. All others are stricter. They mean business. We do not. Minnesota, if I'm not mistaken, was either the last or one of the last states to go along with the change from 1.0 to .08 last summer. Mr. Sherbrooke blew a 1.0. He was operating a motor vehicle. According to this week's Pelican Press DUI charges against Mr. Sherbrooke have been dropped.
For $50 anybody can buy a digital breathalyzer. People spend three times that for fuzzbusters, yet a speeding ticket fine is a third of what a DUI costs. Why even risk a DUI? When you leave the bar and slide behind the wheel, reach for your breathalyzer first. Blow your .05-.06 (still illegal in most other countries). Then, if you're pissed at the local cops, turn on your hazards as they drive by, let them pull you over, waste their time so they can't win the weekend contest.
I am reluctant to even venture out on local roads after sunset on weekends. I've heard that one in ten drivers I would meet have been drinking. Not good odds.
Never in all my years did I once believe that American society would ever change when it came to smoking. Consider how the stigma of smoking has changed over the last thirty years in this "The Land of the Free." Talk about moving mountains.
Our attitudes about drinking and driving can change as well, once we get as serious about it as we have about smoking. I doubt that I will live to see it in this state. I hope my kids will.
Judges are the ones who will get us going in the right direction. I hope the judge will see that the rights of all drivers Mr. Sherbrooke would have met on the road that summer night in 2004 weigh more than Mr. Sherbrooke's personal rights. Who put whom in jeopardy? He should pay the price, all of it.
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2 comments:
Well, the author of this post has never been harassed by Scott Sachs and is on the wrong side of it. As someone who has been harassed by Sachs, I hope Mr. Sherbrooke wins big BIG in this one and that Sachs will finally be terminated of his duties in Pelican Rapids and that our fine city will no longer be seen as a joke in the eyes of out-of-towners.
I appreciate the author's comments and support of our City Council and Police Department. I, however feel compelled to comment myself to the readers and the comments by annonymous. Operating a motor vehicle while impaired is a serious, serioius problem across this great country of ours. The cost of lost property, personal injury and life is immeasurable. I wish I could forget how much of it I have seen. Try and imagine the pain in a parents eyes when you have to wake them in the middle of the night and tell them that they're son or daughter has been killed in a motor vehicle accident. I don't have to imagine this. Unfortunately I have had to make this notification too many times. I have never seen such pain. Fortunately by these laws being strictly and fairly enforced these incidents have decreased across the country. As a husband and father I hope and pray that this trend continues.
Scott Sachs,
police officer since 1990, Pelican Rapids Police Officer since 1997.
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