DWI: Driving the message home

Photo: heriffa TMs Cpl. David Chavez helps Lopoldo Pacheco-Apodaca, 34, into a patrol car after the 34-year-old was arrested for suspicion of driving while intoxicated on Tuesday evening.

[Hmmm]

I wonder why Fierro wasn't mentioned in the first few paragraphs. A photo of his BMW with the hole thru the windshield where the "rock", went thru would have been nice.

[Good Gawd]

What exactly is it they don't get? People are being arrested for DWI, so yes DWI laws are being enforced. It's the punishment that IS NOT BEING ENFORCED!!! All of the DWIers in the article have multiple DWIs because they can get away with it. Welcome to New Mexico. Land of Enchanted Drunk Drivers. This article is a crock of cra p. Why don't you publish the punishment DWIers have received from our light wristed judges.

[train boy]

Nowhere in the story does it mention the taxi subsidy by the County in 2008. This is a transportation issue not a drinking issue. People will ALWAYS drink. It's getting home that is the issue. Create an affordable ride program and jobs will be created as well as a safe ride home. The problem is not the drinking its the driving.

[excuseomatic]

Wheeler said DWI enforcement is a priority for his department, and that the DWI unit has been at full-strength for most of 2009. The third DWI officer was added under former Police Chief Eric Johnson, whom Wheeler replaced in May. The department wants to add a fourth DWI officer under a plan that calls for adding an overall total of 45 officers to the force in the next three years.

Typical Wheeler, nothing but excuses excuses excuses excuses

[justice]

all this fan fare, yet the city fathers approve drinking parties, some councilors saw the wrong, but Mayor Cuss went for the gusto, we preach, we fly flags, we have memorials, yet the gavel of the leaders yeild to revenue of liquor, just pray nobody dies or gets hurt during these next two weeks of party, funded with tax dollars. No celebration is complete unless we have booze.

[BRENT]

Good Gawd wrote:

What exactly is it they don't get? People are being arrested for DWI, so yes DWI laws are being enforced. It's the punishment that IS NOT BEING ENFORCED!!! All of the DWIers in the article have multiple DWIs because they can get away with it. Welcome to New Mexico. Land of Enchanted Drunk Drivers. This article is a crock of cra p. Why don't you publish the punishment DWIers have received from our light wristed judges.

Absolutely right!

[knickovthyme]

why bother arresting him...in new mexico he will be out in no time and problaly be issued another licence....

[Sad]

Can't you see it doesn't matter how many police you have out there? Do you know how many of them are drinking on the job? Has that ever been verified? Second, it's true commercials don't work. This is a state that needs education. Lots of it. Governor Richardson was okay with the number of illegal immigrants in this state. I can't tell you how many of them I have seen next to me drinking beer on the road, and "no" I'm not guessing, I know it. Sure it's not just them, but have you ever driven in Juarez? Everyone there drinks freely on the road. Close the bars early. Do anything. But educate people, this state is so far behind on everything, because of the lack of education on critical issues. Jail time doesn't work, commercials don't work, educate people.

[Judge Roy Bean]

Make parking lots at bars illegal!!!

[native]

I agree with you all. This has been a thorn in my side for years. I do not understand why on the very first dwi they are not sent to jail for a yr. not 2days, not 1 day. Obviously these ppl. need help, we pay enough taxs in the city to have a program in which they would have to attend while doing their yr. sentance... All this advertising, we are paying for and what does it accomplish, these cops are for the birds, and it every yr. at the big round house pow wow they can not come up with anything to deter this. At times it simply overwhelms me we have such idiots in our nm government, mainly the head honcho Bill. He belongs in hollywood selling pamphlets to the tourists........

[moi]

why is there no reporting on the JUDGES and the light sentences.
it would be informative to see what the track record is with judges and repeat offenders

[Not hard to figure out]

NO treatment? Then continue to expect the same people being arrested and driving AGAIN. Arresting someone or punishing them does not cure the disease, and neither does treatment. However, at least with treatment, they can manage the disease.

[Chucho]

Outlaw the sale, production and consumption of alcohol. This is the only solution.

[Robert Rivera]

Thank you Jason Auslander for such an in depth story. Once again you have done what few journalists can do. Meanwhile, Kate Nash, and Steve Terrell only write about Governor Bill Richardson like a pair of right wing pundits.

[FTP]

I am still laughing, special training to spot a drunk driver?

[FTP]

Or kill drunk drivers on the spot, bullet to the head. I like to have a drink, I just know better than to drink and drive. Read your history books, retard, we've already tried it, it was called PROHIBITION!!!!!!

Chucho wrote:

Outlaw the sale, production and consumption of alcohol. This is the only solution.

[Richard Roth]

We have a big drunk driving problem, but the progress cannot be denied. Alcohol-Related crashes, injuries, and fatalities are all down 35-40% in the last 6 years. 30,000 New Mexicans have had ignition interlocks and their re-arrest rate is 65% to 75% less than that of comparable DWI offenders who should not be driving at all. Vehicle Forfeiture for driving while revoked is now the law in Santa Fe City and County. No one can get relicensed in NM after a DWI without a minimum of 6 months of interlocked driving and fulfillment of their judicial interlock mandate. License Revocation periods and interlock periods have been increased to 1 year for a first conviction, 2 years for a sencond , 3 years for a conviction, and lifetime with 5 year review for a 4th or greater.
Anti DWI advertising and education are necessary to offset the millions that the alcohol industry spends to convince people to drink.
It's time for an increase in the alcohol excise tax to offset the millions that the state is spending from its general fund for police, courts, treatment, and jails.

[Peskime]

More than four hours after the crash near Taos, Ramírez-Olivas — a Mexican national who had lived in the Santa Fe area for the past 12 years and worked in construction — had a blood-alcohol content that measured more than triple the legal limit. He had been arrested for drunken driving in 1998 but never prosecuted. Last month, he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison and will be deported upon release*

Does anyone else think its a wee bit suspicious that they send a Mexican national to jail for an accident where no one was maimed or killed and yet our *native* born drunk drivers who do the exact same thing ten, twelve, get a slap on the wrist?

Methinks this is racism at play.

[It would be nice]

Chucho wrote:

Outlaw the sale, production and consumption of alcohol. This is the only solution.

if this could happen but in reality, it is never going to happen.

It would be nice if the Governor of this state would sit down with the NM Liquor Industry & Corporations and agree for them to pay upfront to conduct more billboards, television, radio and internet ads against drinking and driving, especially targeting the NM youth.

And I am not talking about hiring idiots like Eric Estrada stupid commerical against drinking and driving. The problem with this Governor is that he does not utilize the local people for these ads from the community that have become victim's of these horrific crimes who are the ones that are impacted by these DUI/DWI deaths on our highways.

The content of these advertisment against drinking and driving should include real picture of a victims and thier families going through a horrific experience at the scene and even up to the funeral service. If possible, the judge should order for the DUI/DWI suspect to attend the funeral services of the person he or she killed because of DUI/DWI. And of this should be taped and viewed by the entire public in NM.

This may sound a little out of the boundaries of showing empathy and compassion for the victims, but something needs to be done from the educational perspective of reaching out to the public about what is happening to innocent families and what they are going through hell over thier loss in NM.

We need to stop this carnage on the highways. NM is still small enough to know a picture of someone in the news and especially if it is a family member you know who has lost a loveone due to DUI/DWI. A single picture tells a whole story and the media has taken many DUI/DWI photos at completed death scenes with people crying, holding on to each other while the body is laying on the road or in the car. Now, that to me is a real scenario of why people should not be drinking and driving. This is not about exploiting the victim's and their families, it is about educating people in this state of what really happens when you drink and drive. Now, this is the type of educational tools that can be use for enhancing the billboards, television and radio adverstising against DWI/DUI. The liquor industry should be the primary funding source and should step up to the plate to pay for these NM ads against drinking and driving. The NM taxpayers should not pay a dime for Governor Richardson's ads, especially with this bimbo Eric Estrada playing cop. What an embarassment to our state.

[Dave Nelson]

Are you always so confused? That man killed two people.

Peskime wrote:

More than four hours after the crash near Taos, Ramírez-Olivas — a Mexican national who had lived in the Santa Fe area for the past 12 years and worked in construction — had a blood-alcohol content that measured more than triple the legal limit. He had been arrested for drunken driving in 1998 but never prosecuted. Last month, he was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison and will be deported upon release*
Does anyone else think its a wee bit suspicious that they send a Mexican national to jail for an accident where no one was maimed or killed and yet our *native* born drunk drivers who do the exact same thing ten, twelve, get a slap on the wrist?
Methinks this is racism at play.