en-us https://www.intensedebate.com/users/678081 Comments by missouririck http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38591551 i have found maybe half a dozen people on this site who think for themselves. the rest are cops or think like cops. as a journalist, i learned to think for myself. i tied barack obama in to this local issue on drinking and driving because he has tipped his hand that socialism and a socialist attitude, meaning individuals have little or no rights, is part of his agenda. all politics are local, and start with the mayor and go up to county administrator, council members, county board of supervisors, governor, and then into congress and u.s. senate. the people who don't understand this, sadly, are the uneducated or perhaps undereducated types that post blogs on this site without knowing the facts of which they speak. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 21:48:57 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38591551 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38530151 chely, i was trying to be a gentleman and give you the benefit of the doubt. obviously, you are not the type to think outside the box which is sad. the future of our country depends on right-thinking citizens who do think ahead and plan for a better future for all of us. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 15:55:59 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38530151 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38524728 believe it or not, chelly and i are on the same wavelength. but while the state legislature is putting this new plan into effect to keep serious repeaters from doing damage to themselves and others off the streets, they should also change the justice system so local police officers have far more options on what to do when they pull over border-line cases. when i say borderline, i am talking about someone who has just had that one or two drinks, who are not seriously impaired and who just want to go home after a hard day of studying or at work or even looking for a job. THIS IS THE AMERICA WE LOVE AND LIVE IN. LET'S START TREATING OUR CITIZENS RIGHT! Tue, 13 Oct 2009 14:35:07 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38524728 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38522408 the justice system in missouri and elsewhere is all about money. the attorneys understand this, the legislators who make the laws understand this, and my question is, when will the voters understand this and do something about it? america is on the same road that poland and czechoslovakia took in the 1930s and 40s when they allowed their governments to be seized by communism. is this what we want in this country? because if you don't want it, you had better put the brakes on the barack obama administration and the police powers that are making laws to affect everything you do, from the time you get out of bed until you retire to your bedroom. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:57:01 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38522408 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38521575 dogman and people like him just don't get it. america is a land of diversification. some of us enjoy a beer, a glass of wine, a cocktail or even some of that good missouri moonshine. others don't. but the people are getting tired of supporting a justice system that only succeeds in putting money into the pockets of arresting officers, bailbondsmen, attorneys, judges, bailiffs and undertrained guards who have the keys to steel cells that clang shut in the nut, while the rest of us are sleeping. it certainly wasn't this way in the 1940s and 50s, when law enforcement officers had the option of either taking you to jail or giving you a warning and sending you to an all-night diner for coffee if they smelled alcohol on you. do we really want a Police State mentality in America? wake up, fellow citizens, and pressure your elected and appointed leaders to do the right thing for the majority of the people! Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:44:01 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38521575 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38430134 to stanleyl's question on what police should do when they stop a driver who has been drinking...i say, give the cop more authority on whether to take that person directly to jail or let him go to a nearby coffee shop to get settled. there are degrees to drinking, just as there are degrees to anger and pain suffered when you lose somebody close. a person who might have had a couple of beers with friends acts a certain way, and somebody who finished off a couple of six packs or a bottle of scotch or tequila acts differently. if this system worked back in the 40s, 50s and 60s, before MADD took control of america's judicial system, it can work today. the trouble is, attorneys get elected to political office. they become governors, attorney generals, congressmen and senators. they write and pass the laws -- and THEN they get the economic benefits from representing the people who break those laws. i am an international journalist and have seem how our elected representatives play the system. they are making fools out of all of you on this site who defend them, and you are swallowing their legislative garbage like it's steak and lobster. it would be totally disgusting if it wasn't so sad. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:37:12 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38430134 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38429806 in major cities like phoenix, las vegas and other metros, i guarantee you that some police officers have been caught putting stickers on license plates that will identify motorists to other law enforcement officers that they were at a bar. i covered a story on this in phoenix, and the judge ordered the practice halted. but it is STILL done in cities across the america. i have no idea if it's happening in springfield or vicinity, but where i come from if there's smoke, there's fire, and if it hops like a frog, it's usually a frog. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:29:25 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38429806 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38429509 duude, great story about your relative. no, that wasn't too lenient an action by the cop. i have a lot of people i know in law enforcement, having been a journalist the past 40 years. i worked for major newspapers and covered major murder cases and the like, including the manson trial and the patty hearst kidnapping. i know what makes a good cop, a maverick cop and -- the worst -- a bad cop. i think a police officer or deputy who handles cases and incidents individually and not 'by the booki' is the best kind of police officer. unfortunately, the way the attorneys posing as congressmen and senators have set up our laws today, they take most of those rights away from the cops. i don't blame cops for the way they enforce the laws, i blame a system that has to be changed if we want to continue calling our country america, land of the free and home of the brave. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:22:43 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38429509 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38428538 i don't write truths here to be popular. i never forgot what my sunday school teacher told me a long time ago, THE MAJORITY KILLED CHRIST. sometimes you have to go against the grain to make people see a point that they are blind to. one of the bloggers here said, 'this isn't the 40s or 50s,' and said he was happy when a police officer put handcuffs on somebody rather than drove that person home. that insensitivity to the plight of our fellow citizens is the thing that is killing america and turning our country into an armed camp. my former girl friend, a flight attendant, was born in poland and told me about ten years ago this was happening to america, when she saw how laws were tightening up on guns and driving. she said, IT HAPPENED TO US IN WARSAW, AND BY THE TIME THE PEOPLE WOKE UP, IT WAS TOO LATE. WE WERE POWERLESS AGAINST THE SYSTEM AND HAD LOST OUR FREEDOM. so i happily accept being the most unpopular blogger here. messengers of the truth generally are treated that way. smiles... Tue, 13 Oct 2009 02:00:15 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38428538 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38427001 The motorist who plowed into your friends' car did not have a drink or two. to be that out of control, he had to have been legally drunk and should have been stopped. sadly it didn't happen before the accident. but i have many friends, including older women, who have been arrested and brutalized by an unforgiving system that, like you, is blind to seeing the difference between DRUNK and driving and drinking and driving. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:33:19 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38427001 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38426405 i think people should be embarrassed to go into today's law enforcement system. they will be forced to arrest fellow citizens on borderline cases just because the law is written is as it is written, by attorneys who make money by representing people who have been accused of criminal wrongdoing by the System they created. they will be forced to spy on their fellow citizens and ask other citizens to spy on them. and to think america and americans condemned the Soviet Union and Communist China for doing these very same things back in the 'safe' 1940s. Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:22:32 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38426405 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38425763 the constitutional right we have here is whether or not to grant the police total control over our lives. when i was a kid growing up in a small town in western pennsylvania, we kids could take our .22 rifles or shotguns on board a school bus, leave them with the driver while we were in class and when we got out of school we could go hunting in the woods or shoot squirrels or rabbits for our evening meal without someone calling the police and requesting a SWAT team. when i was a kid, the local police officer, whose name was popeye, would amble down to the local OWLS or MOOSE CLUB, spot the town drunk johnny into his cups, watch tolerably while johnny got stupefied and then offer to drive him home so he wouldn't have an accident. that was the america i love and grew up in. try comparing that with today's zero tolerance COPS! who would rather throw steel cuffs on someone than drive him home, give him a pat on the back and say, 'I'LL SEE YOU IN THE MORNING, FRIEND. HOPE YOU DON'T HAVE A HANGOVER.' Tue, 13 Oct 2009 01:12:22 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38425763 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38405817 to answer one of my critics on this site who asked, HOW WOULD YOU FEEL IF YOU WERE AWAKENED AT 6 A.M. TO BE TOLD THAT A DRUNK DRIVER HAD JUST KILLED YOUR SON/DAUGHTER/BROTHER, ETC. my response is this: i would feel the same as the person who was told their son/daughter/father had been arrested and jailed for the 'crime' of having had three beers at a friend's wedding, and committed suicide while in jail because he couldn't stand the shame and humiliation of being behind bars. nowhere on this site have i said people who are truly drunk should not be prosecuted. i am simply calling on voters to control their mayors and police and sheriff's deputies on how the law is applied, and to make sure that people whose only crime was drinking and driving -- NOT drunk while driving -- are not thrown into the same jail system as rapists, thieves and murderers. if you cannot see the difference, i am afraid you are the one who is blind. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:21:53 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38405817 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38403242 ,mr. bing has it down correctly. the System 'fleeces' people by making it as expensive and as unpleasant as possible for someone to be arrested for drinking and driving. note, i did not say, driving under the influence. anyone who has been entrapped by the System knows that the law is written in such a way that if ANY judge feels you are impaired, you are history. you are treated like you are a piece of property owned by the State and you as an individual and your rights cease to exist. america needs a quiet non-violent revolution to replace the leadership we have elected and appointed to office. we can start with our local mayors, go to the judiciary, include the police and work our way up to the President. America has lost its way and the citizens, with the guidance of the Constitution and God's wisdom, have to find our way back to sanity. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:44:38 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38403242 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38396745 chely's 'evidence' is partially the cause of the condition this nation finds itself in with a president leading us whose name is barack obama. congratulations, chely, on being a good informed american. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:25:24 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38396745 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38386866 to ex-hollister cop, i absolutely agree that the powers of the federal government, along with local, county and state powers, should be cut back. we could reduce crime in this country by reducing the number of police officers on the streets, since studies have shown that law enforcement officers, on or off-duty, commit as many crimes, especially violent crimes, as the general public -- and they have the guns to do it. a true constitutional party interested in guaranteeing individual freedom can get by on far fewer laws than those we presentlly live by. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:09:31 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38386866 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38385972 to ex-hollister cop, i am a bonafide journalist and newspaper reporter. i have worked around the united states in many states -- arizona, new mexico, florida, ohio, pennsylvania, california and nevada -- and know for a fact that police officers in phoenix and las vegas do this on a regular basis. they wait outside popular bars and put a sticker on the license plates of cars in the parking lot. these stickers can only be seen through special glasses that the cops have. they can pull you over on any pretext -- your taillight is out, you were weaving, etc. and the first question they ask sounds very innocent, SIR or MADAM, HAVE YOU BEEN DRINKING? IF you are honest like most people, you'll admit you had a beer or two -- after all , you were just in a bar. THAT ANSWER SEALS YOUR FATE FOR THE NEXT SIX MONTHS. now can some of you see my point? Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:02:21 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38385972 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38382093 to respond to dogman's question... those three criteria -- damages, injury or death from a traffic accident -- should be the major criteria for any arrest, regardless if a person has been drinking or not. but i also feel a person should be held responsible if a police officer or citizen spots someone driving in an erratic or irresponsible manner, and the person is found to have been imbibing in alcohol. you can drive just as erratically after an argument with your spouse or a friend, or because you are depressed because of job loss. so stop putting all the blame on a bottle of budweiser or coors, or a glass of robert mondavai chardonnay. grow up, america. take back your country and stop handing it over to the COPS! Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:23:13 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38382093 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38381495 to terrymo and anyone else who asks the same question, i haven't had anything to drink and i am not a drinker, except on very special occasions with family and friends. however, i am a believer in the u.s. constitution and a former soldier who fought for this country. i believe in restricting the powers of the police to make stops and/or arrests, or to bother americans in their homes. and for this reason, i make my statements that the old laws which made it against the law o drive a car if your BA was .12 or higher should be in effect. Duuude's BA count was .09. that came after the mothers against drunk drivers got organized and patronized the justice system with promises of votes and support if they lowered the BA content. today americaa has six times as many people in jail and prison as third world nations -- and many are there because of the outmoded and outdated DUI laws. we don't need to turn this beautiful nation into a Police State. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:14:14 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38381495 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38380726 checkpoints are nothing more than legalized 'speedtraps,' and they should be declared illegal by the u.s. supreme court. i would like just one individual or couple to make a test-case out of this and bring it to the attention of the supreme court so this practice can be ended permanently. Mon, 12 Oct 2009 19:06:13 +0000 http://www.ky3.com/news/local/64008062.html#IDComment38380726