LETTERS: NEED ZERO TOLERANCE FIRST-TIME DWIs

To the editor:

This letter is in response to the March 3 article on DWIs. The article presented the idea of putting first-time offenders through a treatment program before giving them jail time. This, in my opinion, is a bad idea. I think we should instigate a zero-tolerance law.

We already practice zero tolerance in the public schools about guns, drugs and, in some schools, intolerable behavior in general. If we can apply it there, we can apply it on the roads. To me, drinking and driving are just as dangerous if not more dangerous.

The article stated that many of the persons caught are young drivers and have not yet gotten the idea that mixing alcohol and driving is dangerous. If we send these so-called first-time offenders through a treatment program first, they will thank that they can get off easy the next time they get caught -- if there is a next time.

If we put these young drivers in jail the first time they drink and drive and show what could have happened to them if they would have killed someone while drinking and driving, it would probably scare them enough not to drink anymore.

I remember reading in the Southeast Missourian about three weeks ago about a man who had been in court for nine different DWI charges, and all he received was probation. This zero-tolerance law would lower the percentage of repeat offenders and probably get rid of several repeat offenders.

Lowering the blood-count level to 0.08 percent is a great idea and a positive step toward the zero-tolerance idea. It would prevent those of us who drink socially to think about what we have had to drink and how much we think we can handle. I know of several people who get badly buzzed or even drunk after one beer or one glass of wine. By lowering the limit to 0.08 percent, it would cause people to not ever drink outside the privacy of their homes.

JUSTIN HOCKERSMITH

Cape Girardeau