Driving Drinkers Away An Aggressive Campaign Against Drunken Driving Around Medical Lake Is Proving Bad For Business, Tavern Owners Complain.

A pair of roadway signs meant to discourage drinking and driving in Medical Lake are a little too discouraging, some residents say.

The two 4-by-6-foot signs declare the city of Medical Lake strictly enforces drunken driving laws.

They were posted at the north and south highway entrances to the city and boast the number of arrests so far this year.

The count stands at 18.

Bar owners and their patrons say the signs are unfriendly and project a police-state mentality. They petitioned the City Council last month to take down the signs.

Police and those concerned about the dangers of drinking and driving want to get tough on the potentially lethal behavior and view the signs as a way to raise awareness of the problem.

“I’m definitely for keeping the sign the way it is,” said City Councilwoman Shirley Maike, who lost a brother to drunken driving in 1982.

“How could it hurt?”

Bar owners say the signs scare away business and leave regular patrons fearing harassment from police.

The issue has become so tense that two of the three bar owners in Medical Lake refused to talk about the issue on the record because they don’t want to worsen their problems, they said.

Their customers weren’t afraid to speak up.

“I support the DUI law,” but not the hard-line approach to enforcement, said Terry Jones, seated along the bar at the Dirty Shame Tavern.

Posting the number of arrests like some kind of body count sends the wrong message, Jones said.

“That’s insulting, and threatening to anyone who wants to come into town,” he said. “I don’t think that’s what this town is all about.”

Customer Al Warman said, “It’s intimidation.”

Across Lake Street at Jake’s, bartender Glenda Moore said, “I don’t like it, and I’m drinking coffee.

“Everybody knows what the law is,” she said. “We have a lot of customers who walk down here and they don’t like the sign.”

Since the signs went up in early 1996, bar owners said they’ve seen fewer and fewer out-of-town customers. Also, softball players no longer stop at the bars after games at city park.

Mary Alderman, the owner at Jake’s, estimated her business has slipped 25 percent in the past three years, and the signs are just one reason.

“It’s made a lot of unhappy people in this town,” said Alderman, the only one of the three bar owners willing to speak on the record.

Some of the bar patrons said it feels like police have declared open season on them.

Gary Polser of Clear Lake said he was pulled over recently after leaving Jake’s about 1 a.m. He had played in a pool tournament that night.

The officer stopped him, he said, because one of the two lights that illuminate his rear license plate was burned out. The other one was still working.

Polser said it was apparent the police officer stopped him so he could check his breath for alcohol.

“That to me is harassment,” said Polser, who said he wasn’t cited during the traffic stop.

City Administrator Pete Rose said he and police officials have talked about finding an appropriate level of enforcement.

That includes having officers walk through the bars on occasion.

Recently, the police stopped their practice of watching traffic from the parking lot in front of the McDonald’s restaurant, which is near the town’s three bars. Rose said the police presence was upsetting bar patrons who could see the officers as they were coming and going.

Officers have been told not to target bar patrons for arrest, but to help them find alternatives to driving while drunk, he said.

Police Chief Christopher Elg said his officers have even given rides to people who shouldn’t be driving.

“If we didn’t have to make one arrest that would be great,” the chief said.

Unreasonable tactics by officers will be checked out if residents report them, Elg said, but he added he has had only one complaint in his two years as chief.

The city, with 3,790 residents, has seven full-time officers and 14 reservists. That’s a slightly higher officer-to-citizen ration than larger cities like Spokane.

The signs were funded with a state traffic commission grant obtained by the police chief, and they may be the only ones of their kind in the state, city officials said.

Grumbling over the signs boiled up in September when more than 80 residents signed a petition asking that the signs be removed.

Mayor Sharie Stearns put her name on the petition, she said, to support the residents in raising the issue for debate. She said she does not necessarily want the signs taken down.

Stearns said some residents believe the signs give the impression that people in Medical Lake have drinking problems.

To settle the dispute, the City Council agreed to poll residents by stuffing advisory ballots into October’s utility bills.

Early results showed a clear majority favored keeping the signs up. Then, someone stuffed photocopied ballots in the box at City Hall and now the mayor has declined to release the latest results. She said the balloting was tainted.

The ballots that were stuffed into the box came from an opponent of the signs, Rose said.

The issue is expected to go back to the City Council for a decision in coming weeks.

One of the council members is Dave Bucklin, the owner of the Wagon Wheel Tavern. Bucklin declined to comment about the controversy because of his position as a bar owner and council member.

Sign opponents said many of the arrests were people from out of town. Also, a lot of drunken driving arrests don’t result in convictions.

Some bar patrons said the city should post convictions alongside the arrests to be fair.

Jim Hill, a state trooper, who ran a close but unsuccessful campaign against Stearns for mayor, criticized her for signing the petition and campaigning in favor of the signs.

Hill said part of the bar owners’ problem is a change in people’s spending habits. More people are going to family establishments where alcohol may be served. An economic study by the city shows a steady increase in the amount of money spent on food and beverages in recent years.

Hill said the bar owners should get with the trend and make their establishments friendly environments for families.

At the Dirty Shame, owner Jim Mahoney is remodeling. Mahoney declined to talk about the signs but his customers said they are not anti-police. They helped raise money to pay for keeping the city’s police dog. They also raise money for other charitable causes.

Bar patrons complain the signs caused a decrease in the number of softball teams using city facilities and in the number of people attending community events like Founder’s Day and the annual fisherman’s pancake breakfast.

But a check with the parks and recreation department showed that the number of teams has increased slightly since the signs went up.

Proponents of the signs said they believe the notices have helped reduce drunken driving. The 18 arrests this year compare with 36 arrests in all of 1996 and a similar number in 1995.

“I’ve heard more positive comments than negative,” Elg said.

Hill said, “If the sign is that powerful, there needs to be a lot more of them.”

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