Serving Santa Cruz County, CA Since 1989 | Visit: us on Twitter | The Great Exchange
Select a recent issue:
December 4, 2009
December 4, 2009 - December 10, 2009
Volume XII, Issue 36
In This Issue...
Surf and Sand Park Owner Asks to Divide, Sell Lots
Pajaro Budget Cut Totals a Moving Target
Central Fire Board Narrowing Choices for New Chief -- Appointment Expected by New Year
Second Harvest Halfway Towards Goal
Capitola Smoking Ban Will Take Effect in January
Capitola Forming Library Committee
Synthetic Turf Design Moves Ahead for Soquel Park
Capitola Raising Some Mobile Home Rents
911
Second Internal Theft Arrest at Kohl's
Rash of Holiday Burglaries Hit Rio Del Mar Area
Around Aptos
Want Some Help with the Holidays? Here Are Local Suggestions
Crimebeat
Crime Beat 12/04/09
Driving Impaired: The Costs & Consequences
Saving Lives Arresting One Drunk at a Time
Five Hours in the County Drunk Tank
DUI Hunting
How Fast Was I Reclining, Offisher?
Education
Lynette Hamby New Soquel Board President
Health
Santa Cruz County Now Offering Discount Prescription Card
County Health Adds Watsonville H1N1 Clinic
Hamstring Muscle Pulls and Tendonitis
Newsmakers
Sound Off on 9-1-1
Burn Season Opens
Badges on the Prowl
Tony Hill Room to be Dedicated
Capitola Library Committee Members Needed
Desalination Update
Giving the Gift of Green
Chief Medina Serves Thanksgiving Breakfast
Cayuga Vault to Close
Start Smart for Teens
Woofy Awards
The Mid-County Post > Driving Impaired: The Costs & Consequences
How Fast Was I Reclining, Offisher?
Drunk driving laws were first adopted in the U.S. in 1910. However, people before and since have found creative ways of driving drunk, and often not in automobiles.

One of the most oft-repeated stories is of Franklin Pierce who, while serving as president of the United States (1853-57), is alleged to have run over an elderly woman with his carriage while drunk. And according to Mental Floss magazine, Paul Revere's ride only became public and boisterous after he stopped over at the house of a rum distiller friend for a few brewskis.

The subsequent cries of defiance from horseback for which he gained fame were heard by the British redcoats, who detained the drunken silversmith for an hour before he was released to rouse Sam Adams and John Hancock.

DUI laws have necessarily been broadened far beyond the operation of customary motor vehicles. A few years ago a latter-day Paul Revere in Oakland was arrested for drunk driving when he stole a horse and caused its death by riding it into the path of an oncoming truck.

Or take the Milwaukee man who recently was picked up for driving a golf cart 40 miles down the highway towards home (he'd had 10 beers).

Or the California man who stole a motorized shopping cart from Wal-Mart and drove it down the fast lane of a major roadway. Or the legions of drunk driving arrests of lawn mower operators.

However, top honors go to the Minnesota man who was snagged with a 0.29 BAC while driving his custom motorized La-Z-Boy. The chair was decked out with stereo, cup holders, steering wheel and power antenna, as well as a National Hot Rod Association sticker on its headrest.

The operator crashed it into another vehicle near the bar he had just departed. The chair was subsequently sold at auction for more than $10,000.

Maybe we should borrow an idea from Turkey, where drunk drivers are taken 20 km out of town and forced to walk back.
« Previous Story: DUI Hunting
  
Contact Us
Advertising Inquiries
To the Editor
Submit a Calendar Event
Learn More...
About the Mid-County Post
Online Issue Archives
The Mid-County Post
Bringing Home the News Since 1989
831 Bay Avenue Ste. 1C
Capitola, CA
831-476-9130 phone
831-476-5023 fax
Entire contents ©2007 The Mid-County Post. No part may be reproduced in any fashion
without written permission of the publisher. Locally owned and published.