familyties
Aries
Hot Boater
Havasu Springs, AZ
Posts: 253
APPD 0.03
Post Rank: 91
Hallett 210
|
 |
Posted: Aug. 15 2005,7:46 pm |
Post # 1 |
   |
Monday, August 15, 2005 Last modified: Sunday, August 14, 2005 10:40 PM MDT
Higher DUI fines won't help LHC
By Brian DiTullio
Gasoline prices aren't the only prices going up this weekend.
Among the more than 300 changes to state laws that took effect last weekend includes higher mandatory fines for people convicted of drunk driving.
Lake Havasu City Magistrate Clyde Andress said the minimum fine for a first offense DUI or OUI conviction would be $1,473 now that another $500 has been tacked on to the minimum mandatory fine. For a second offense, that penalty goes up by another $750 to $1,250, making the minimum fine for a second DUI offense $3,423.
"And that's before we assign any fine here from the city," said Andress.
The $500 goes toward a Department of Public Safety fund.
The additional fines imposed by the state have Andress a little upset because none of that money stays in Lake Havasu City.
"The bad part is that it doesn't go for anything in Lake Havasu City," said Andress. "It all goes to the state."
Andress said he has no problem doing what he can to deter potential drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel, but he doesn't like being "a collection agency for the state."
Andress noted that if the additional fine had been in effect for the first six months of the year, Lake Havasu City would have sent $201,801 to the state for the 137 DUI and OUI cases his court processed the first half of the year.
"The DPS already is a state-funded agency," said Andress. "That's what upsets me. They're getting state money already."
For extreme DUI and OUI charges, the new fine is an additional $1,000 for the first offense with additional offenses having the $1,250 added fine.
Among the new laws, Arizona also passed a law allowing "off-site" liquor sampling.
The new regulation permits samples of three ounces of beer, one and a half ounces of wine or a half-ounce of hard liquor. But the measure contains provisions designed to prevent abuse, ranging from limiting where in the store the samples can be offered to requiring retailers to give a 10-day notice to the Department of Liquor Licenses and Control.
€ If police find you driving without insurance, they now are required to impound your vehicle and assess a fine of $923 for the first offense.
Andress said a court can reduce that fine to $300 if the person charged can show proof of a six-month insurance policy within 30 days.
A second insurance offense brings a $1,373 fine that can be reduced to $375, and a third offense brings a $1,823 fine that can be reduced to $500.
€ Prosecutors get more tools to go after identity thieves and cybercriminals.
€ The driver's license of anyone convicted of giving alcohol to a minor can now be suspended.
€ People over the age of 75 may now opt out of jury duty.
€ New policies against schoolyard bullies.
€ Rape of a spouse no longer carries a lesser penalty than raping anyone else.
€ New gun laws. One cuts in half the amount of training required to get a permit to carry a concealed weapon; the other permits schools to offer gun safety programs, including the handling and firing of weapons.
You may contact the reporter at ditullio@havasunews.com.
So Cal Old Crew
No trees were killed in the sending of this message.
However a large number of electrons were terribly inconvenienced.
|
12-22-2025 Gas price in your area (Rep.#7,378) from: GoFastRacer
I remember throwing them away because the fine was nothing compared to infractions!. 
