The Montana House of Representatives passed a tough drunk-driving bill to combat the state’s high DUI rate, but it came over the objection of Rep. Alan Hale (and later, Sen. Jonathan Windy Boy).
Hale, who owns a bar in Basin, Mont., complained that tough DUI laws “are destroying small businesses” and “destroying a way of life that has been in Montana for years and years.”
Until 2005, drinking while driving was common and legal outside of towns as long as the driver wasn’t drunk.
Furthermore, Hale said, people need to drive home after they drink.
“They are not going to hitchhike.”
Sen. Windy Boy said such laws put the legislature on “the path of criminalizing everyone in Montana.”
Why unions are
so unpopular
The police officers’ union in Scranton, Pa., filed a state unfair labor practice complaint against Chief Dan Duffy because he arrested a man whom he caught violating a warrant and possessing marijuana.
According to the union contract, only union members can “apprehend and arrest” lawbreakers, and since the chief is “management,” he should have called an officer to make the arrest.
The union president suggested that, with layoffs threatened, the chief doesn’t need to be taking work away from officers.
(Send your Weird News to Chuck Shepherd, P.O. Box 18737, Tampa Fla. 33679 or go to www.newsoftheweird.com.)