e-Scapes

The police are recruiting new members for AA. HaHa.

We already had our first fatality on the 1st...convicted drunk driver crashed and burned ..unforunately killed himself and an innocent drive

Well the cops still need to make their quota.

I wonder if people slowing down to save gas is why the police this year (in Wisconsin, anyway) are threatening more than ever to crack down on illegal fireworks. Maybe they need to suppliment all that lost "speeding ticket" revenue with "drunken redneck bottle rocket" revenue. I'm kind of surprised July 4th is the biggest drunk driving day...I would have guessed New Years.

new years more people are buying hotel deals and its generally crappy weather. 4th of july brings out alot more ppl because its free entertainment

The government allows the sale of alcohol. If any other substance created this much havoc with transportation and law enforcement or was responsible for this many deaths each holiday season, it would become a controlled substance and the people who sold/distributed it would be doing hard time. Does anyone see the national disconnect on this issue, yet?

just like cigarettes....the goveernment gets to much money from the sales...they will never outlaw them

They also make too much money on fines for DWIs. They don't want to lose that either, sad but true.

If I'm following this correctly then, this story and the whole gear up for the holiday weekend is a moot point. The alcohol, the DWIs and the journalism, the road kills, the ambulances, the tow trucks, the health care professionals and the hospital costs created over this holiday weekend are all being done for one or another aspect of creating cash flow and represent a very important part of our national economy. The government could very well nip it in the bud, but have placed their priorities once again on consumerism, our largest and most profitable gross national product. A very accurate depiction of a snake biting it's tail. Someone please explain for me then why we continue to call it Independence Day when the game is stacked against the people?

Hmmm...I wonder how many people will get to celebrate their "freedom" sitting in a jail cell this holiday? All because they had a few beers and the cop "suspects" that the person is drunk. Now if you refuse the breathalizer, they have the authority to draw blood from you. Innocent until proven guity my ass.

As every year our Fish & Wildlife Division along with the U.S.Forest Service have check points coimng away from Marina's. People that have been in the sun all day drinking and in some cases using drugs on top of that are going to jail for DUI & BUI.
For you that think Drinking a driving on the public highways is 'Okay' you have a mental problem.
This has nothing to do with Quota's or Money, this has to do with keeping people off the road that have become a deadly missle. The Innocent people with their families do not have to be subjected to operating on the road with drunks and risk having their lives changed forever. If you drink and drive then you have no respect at all for others, and at that point you need to be in jail, insurance rates go up, license suspended.
The Grave Yards are full of ones who thought they could drive while drunk.
So if you think this is a Quota you are sadly mistaken, there are a lot of us that do care about peoples lives and we will do something about it.
As for your fireworks, 85% of the people setting off fireworks are not responsible enough to be using them. They come to our Forrest and just go crazy not thinking of where they will land, all the dry brush around, but they do not care, they would rather enjoy watching the Forrest Burn, Wildlife killed. Don't make excuses, after 15 years of doing this I have seen it all. I have no respect for Drunk drivers or the ones who always claim '2 Beers' all day.And I have even less respect for the ones that defend the drunks over Law Enforcement. I do know that those who choose to put us down for doing our jobs and shifting the blame to us are the same ones that at one time or other have been in trouble with the Law and that is a fact.
If you choose to drink and operate a boat or car you will go to jail, then you get your chance to tell the judge that your are a Quota. When you sober up and start cussing the ones who put you there, at least tell them you are glad to be doing it from a cell as from a Hospital clinging to life.

daysofpast. you sound like a real ASSet to humanity..

Law enforcement may have saved a small amount of money on the weekend but the mn stat patrol certainly made up for it on Monday when I saw 6 state patrol in less than 50 miles all on the same mn highway, all going the same direction. Must have been a great donut convention!!

Law enforcement may have saved a small amount of money on the weekend but the mn state patrol certainly made up for it on Monday when I saw 6 state patrol in less than 50 miles all on the same mn highway, all going the same direction. Must have been a great donut convention!!
Then again the southwest portion of the state has the largest number of government (city, county, state) transportation workers I've seen in my 10 plus years of driving for a career.

I was, > 0.8, for the past 96 hours. Busted 3 times, last century...
Hey MADD, SADD(a pathetic, acronym, should there ever be one).
Face-the facts: You'll NEVER control it!
NEVER!!!
And while you're @ it, recycle your trash. For me, that's alotta beer cans weekly, which I don't bother-to-do. See, I have no progeny, and am Incredibly selfish, self-centered. In the basic "Mindset" of "The Boomers".

Earn-your-experiences, bastards. Rather than, sadly, legislate them.
You make me puke. You ALL make me puke!

We picked up on the fact that you were puking, RMM, without your needing to say so.

This "ticket quota" stuff is so mindless it doesn't bear further comment.

What's idiotic is standing out on your balcony on the 4th, surveying a city where you can see literally $hundreds of thousands ($millions, no doubt, across the country) of fireworks going up in smoke, to say nothing of the cost of the injuries, the public safety expense and the $millions spent on beer, all at a time when the economy's supposed to be going in the tank, people are defaulting on their mortgages, student loans and credit cards, and all of this juvenile excitement over something that goes "bang!" is for what, exactly?

And then the cops go out and get drunk after their shift is over. Hippocrates.

TMM...a correction, first, necessary on my part. A blatant one.
That of my stating I've been >0.8% for 72 hours is, extreme, to say the least.
A typo: 0.08% is what I meant.

You make several, valid points; watching hundreds-of-thousands of dollars, celebrating our Country's birthday, in the form of computerized, synchronized Pyrotechnics. It is unnecessary, but I can live with it...to the chagrin of my dog.

Todays "Joe Six-Pack", is having to make some very critical, fundamental changes to his lifestyle. Kids are a whole 'nother world, I observe.

It is sad to watch Rome burn, as Dubya' fiddles. It is sad to see what motivates the majority of semi-responsible, functional members of The Human Race (Read, Me), chase what, upon succeeding, ends-up not making them any happier than before.
Globally. Civilized worlds. Competent folk...

Maybe I need to listen to Michael Medved's "Happy" program, on Fridays!