Friday, August 22, 2008

University Presidents Debate The Drinking Age?

To be honest, I can say that I was surprised by the announcement the other day by several prestigious university presidents regarding their desire to start a debate about the drinking age. This is one of those pink elephant issues that no one ever wants to talk about. The second the issue is raised, Mothers Against Drunk Driving attempt to scare everyone into submission by threatening, without basis, that traffic fatalities would undoubtedly rise again and our roads would be inundated with younger, irresponsible drunk drivers.

Drinking on college campuses has been around since the invention of college. It was even celebrated years ago in the Sigmund Romberg operetta “The Student Prince,” with the joyous and marvelous drinking song entitled (shockingly), “Drink, Drink, Drink.” Fraternization has been part of the young life for ages. In fact, the majority of Americans who attended college prior to 1984 participated in this age old tradition themselves. While I by no means have formulated my own opinion about what the drinking age should be, I am excited that we may have a real debate on the issue for the first time in as long as I can remember. Educated, reasonable people are willing to stick their necks out and have an intellectual discussion about a topic that needs one. I look forward to the discourse and applaud the university presidents for taking a stand on an issue that is not popular.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Drunk Driving Enforcement Taken To Extremes of Insanity

When you are a drunk driving defense attorney in the State of Wisconsin you get attention at parties. I think the reasons for this are obvious.

That being said, I hear people’s stories all the time about how they get pulled over by law enforcement and how it was the most humiliating day of their lives. One story the other night really caught my attention. I was talking with one of my friends about an incident he recalled several years ago when he was in college. He told me that he spent a night of drinking with his friends at a local establishment and had one of his friends drop him off at his car in a Denny’s parking lot. Realizing that there was no way he was getting his car home that night, he simply sat down in the driver’s seat, locked the doors, reclined his chair, and checked out for the night. An hour later, he was awoken by taps on his window. Guess who? The local police were making an inquiry as to why he was in the Denny’s parking lot asleep in his car. Reasonable enough. In all honesty if I saw a car in a Denny’s parking lot in the middle of the night after the restaurant was closed, I would probably just leave the guy to his dreams and set up a candid camera to see how he reacted in the morning! But I suppose the local police had to go and check the situation out since they basically had nothing else to do in a small Wisconsin town.

What happened next was a shameful display of poor discretion and over zealous policing. After not having observed the man in the car operate his vehicle in any way, nor make any determination that the vehicle had been operated at all recently, the police demanded my friend step out of his vehicle and perform a three-ringed circus for them (the standardized field sobriety tests). Because he was still very groggy from his long night, he failed the tests and was arrested. For what you may ask? Parking illegally, open intoxicant, loitering. No, DRUNK DRIVING! I am not kidding.

For doing the right thing and not driving home, my friend was arrested, humiliated, and amazingly enough, convicted! When he told me this story, I was shocked. First, I was shocked that he was arrested, and second and more appallingly that an attorney that reviewed the case thought he should plead guilty. Are you kidding me? Any attorney in Wisconsin that knows the law knows that you need to operate the vehicle to subject yourself to prosecution. My friend sat in his car. Last I checked in any dictionary or law book that is not operating. Have we really come this far in our society that people who make the right decision about drinking and driving are not given the dignity of having anyone respect that responsible decision? I think it is a shame. I still hope I can reopen the case and bring these police imposter's into court and grill them.

In the meantime, my friend was out several thousand dollars in fines, fees, and insurance that he will never get back. And what did he learn from this experience?

Responsibility does not pay.

Theodore J. “TJ” Perlick-Molinari Attorney