Huckleberries Online

Bill Bans Repeat DUIs From Booze Buy

Posted by DFO

Feb. 19, 2009 3:33 p.m. • 11 comments

Rep. Jim Clark, R-Hayden Lake, proposed legislation today that would ban repeat drunk drivers or those who drive drunk at far above the legal limit from buying or possessing alcohol, for anywhere from five years to life. “Have you ever read in the paper about somebody with their eighth DUI, their ninth DUI, 10th DUI?” he asked the House Judiciary Committee, which he chairs. “This will put a stop to it. … This is a big idea. It’s a total shift in how we deal with these individuals.” Clark said the bill hasn’t yet been reviewed by sheriffs or others; he asked the panel to introduce it so that discussion could start/Betsy Russell, SR Eye On Boise. More here.

Question: What do you think of the Rep. Jim Clark’s idea to ban repeat DUIs from buying alcohol?

11 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

hmoffsuite on February 19 at 4:12 p.m.
Sounds great. Only problem would, of course, be enforcement. They can’t even keep guys that have lost their license from driving anyway. Or keep underage kids from getting their hands on booze. I don’t think the idea is practical and therefore very workable.
MamaJD on February 19 at 4:45 p.m.
Mr. Clark should spend some time with a few experienced drunks. This won’t achieve the result he is seeking, IMHO.
thomg57 on February 19 at 4:54 p.m.
While this may be a noble cause, it is a complete waste of time, effort and the paper it’s printed on. IThis law would be completely unenforceable.
Transplanted_Texan on February 19 at 7:25 p.m.
“This will put a stop to it.”

Kind of the way the legal age of 21 put a stop to teenage drinking?
Liz on February 20 at 1:44 a.m.
oh come on. this won’t put a stop to it at all. Really, have any of these guys ever tried to separate an addict of any kind from his/her drug of choice??? Believe me, where there is a will, there is a way…
geno on February 23 at 3:19 a.m.
What will be the benefit for an underpaid clerk to take on this added responsibility to society? What will be the fine, or jail time for clerk, should that person not read the info on a license correctly? And who will be the guard for the security of the underpaid clerk when the angry customer, see’s them as getting between them and their drug of choice?
The police are paid, trained, and have a lot more backup then an underpaid clerk.
So why should we pay the police, courts, lawyers, so much when truely we should just pay the bartenders, and store clerks more to stop the sale at the source?
This is a sham to cut costs of police, and courts and put it onto the little people.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.