AUTHORITIES WATCH FOR DRUNK DRIVERS DURING HOLIDAYS

Holiday revelers thinking about going over to East Cape Girardeau to take advantage of bars that serve alcohol until 5 a.m. better think twice.

Cape Girardeau County authorities are on the lookout.

"The chances of getting stopped are greater now. We get our share of them," County Sheriff Norman Copeland said, referring to motorists that have been drinking.

Authorities in both Illinois and Cape Girardeau say that residents frequently journey to East Cape -- notably to the Purple Crackle and Hush Puppi Too -- after 1:30 a.m., when bars in Missouri close.

"They'll come over anywhere from 1-2, when the bars close in Cape," said Rosemary, a Purple Crackle bartender who declined to give her last name. "They pretty much come all week long."

Rosemary estimates that 80 percent of the bar's late-night patrons are from Cape Girardeau County.

Thursday nights, or SEMO night, attracts a crowd of Southeast Missouri State University students, who party in an adjoining room of the bar into the wee hours of the morning.

"We have had a number of DWIs involving people coming back from Illinois," said Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle.

The exact figure is not known because the county does not specifically keep track of Driving While Intoxicated offenders on their way back from Illinois bars.

In Alexander County, Illinois, nine of the 54 people arrested this year for Driving Under the Influence involve Missouri residents, court records indicate.

First-time offenders can be fined up to $500, or receive six months in jail, Swingle said. "And there's a 90 percent chance they're going to get probation."

In some cases, an offender can receive "shock detention," a 15-day jail sentence designed to discourage someone from even considering driving and drinking.

Second-time offenders can get up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine; third-time offenders can get 1-5 years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000, Swingle said. "Our judges are consistent in their sentencing. They have been sending people to prison consistently," he said.

In all cases, a DWI conviction results in 12 points added to your driving record, along with the revocation of your driver license.

Offenders put on probation must attend courses on alcohol and drug abuse and also perform 40 hours of community service, according to County Associate Circuit Judge Benjamin Lewis.

Judges also have the freedom to impose almost limitless conditions to a person convicted of driving while intoxicated. The legal state limit is .10.

Lewis says he frequently bans offenders from going into bars. "You'd be surprised at how many people get caught. If there's a scuffle in the bar and the police are called out one way or the other it will get back to the courts," he said.

The holiday period is particularly taxing on authorities.

"The alcoholics are out there all year long but with the holidays, you get people who don't usually drink much and when they do, they don't realize they're impaired," Lewis said.

Though most people charged with DWI plead guilty, offenders routinely dish out over $1,200 -- and that doesn't include lost time away from work and higher insurance premiums. For someone who hires a lawyer and fights a DWI charge, the cost can rise up to $10,000, Lewis said.

And that doesn't include the shame.

"A guy arrested after an office party will have to call the wife at 2 a.m. and she'll have to wake up the kids to go get daddy out of jail. That's a humbling experience," Lewis said.