DUI checkpoint tonight in Santa Rosa

[Barry]

Starts at 7pm. Location is someplace in Santa Rosa. Drive safe!

[someguy]

Starts at 7pm. Location is someplace in Santa Rosa. Drive safe!

Thanks for always keeping us updated on the DUI checkpoints Barry!

[wendymd4]

Yes please don't drink and drive.

Starts at 7pm. Location is someplace in Santa Rosa. Drive safe!

["Mad" Miles]

Santa Rosa Ave. and Barham. Acc. my good buddy.

[Flexible]

Santa Rosa Ave. and Barham. Acc. my good buddy.

I don't understand the impulse to publish this information.

I want drivers who are legally intoxicated cited and off the road. Don't you?

Or are you paranoid about the process? Flawed, inaccurate, used for hassling drivers in general, etc.

Or do you believe everyone reading WACCOBB is a responsible drinker and they should have the information necessary to avoid a bureaucratic examination of their level of intoxication!

Help me out here! Eliminate checkpoints?

Perhaps remote alcohol spectrophotometers should be installed at intersections, remotely testing the drivers exhalations. Photographs of the license plate of drivers whose breath shows a "print" saying > than .08% could be used to issue citations by mail!

(No, I don't think such devices exist!)

["Mad" Miles]

Hey Flexible, Thanks for asking.

The primary reason I think people should know where the checkpoints/retens are is because the cops rip off the cars of undocumented workers and arrest those same people and turn them over to ICE, La Migra.

Back in the day one could get a California Driver's License and then register a car and purchase insurance. Even if one was here working under the table. That was taken away.

We need them as workers, but we're not willing to certify them to drive, let them register their vehicles and purchase insurance. They need to be here for lots of reasons, mostly because they support families and there is a demand for their cheap but experienced and enthusiastic labor, and because of things like NAFTA which has destroyed the agricultural sector in their country as well as degrading their economy in general. It's a complex set of issues, I understand them, and I'm on the side of everyday people.

I also believe in information being public, so, for all those reasons and more, I relayed the information I received.

And if you think drunk drivers are checking the traffic on waccobb.net at almost 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night, well, they're pretty savvy drunks, or they're not that drunk, or their designated drivers just don't want the hassle. So, now you know.

I doubt there's much chance you'll see it my way. But it's a free country, right? I've heard tell of that. But I've also seen plenty of evidence that such ideas are going by the wayside.

[wendymd4]

Thanks Miles for clarifying, I was wondering your reasoning too. I agree with your sentiments and hope that anyone who drinks and drives either doesn't read this to find checkpoints or chooses to give up driving if they've drank.
-Wendy

[podfish]

note also that the police themselves publish notices about checkpoints, though maybe not the exact spot. They just want to plant the idea in your head that you could be stopped - it's kinda like the old cliche "I don't care what you write about me - just spell my name right"; any attention being paid is a win for them. The point's not really to catch as many people as you can, it's to discourage as many from driving under the influence as you can.

[zenekar]

note also that the police themselves publish notices about checkpoints, though maybe not the exact spot. They just want to plant the idea in your head that you could be stopped - it's kinda like the old cliche "I don't care what you write about me - just spell my name right"; any attention being paid is a win for them. The point's not really to catch as many people as you can, it's to discourage as many from driving under the influence as you can.

Of course there is one "violation" that white folks don't have to worry about, which is DWB (driving while brown).

[podfish]

Of course there is one "violation" that white folks don't have to worry about, which is DWB (driving while brown).

right on topic.

[Flexible]

Miles -

I agree completely with your concern about the use of checkpoints to impound the cars of sober drivers without licenses!

But why not post your note in Spanish, on laundromat walls, and send a text to KBBF, KXTS, KRRS and KTOB - the Spanish language radio stations? They can reach the population that is being unfairly discriminated against. WACCOBB just seemed a counter intuitive place to share this information!

And yes, it is 'public' information.

I've wondered why the Sonoma County Human Rights Commission doesn't take a stand on this? Even with their limited authority they have the capacity to keep it in front of the administrators of public safety agencies and their elected bosses. And what if the Grand Jury could look at this question!

P.S. What about my comment led you to believe I wouldn't see it your way?

P.P.S. It is only a free county if you have money.

Hey Flexible, Thanks for asking.

The primary reason I think people should know where the checkpoints/retens are is because the cops rip off the cars of undocumented workers and arrest those same people and turn them over to ICE, La Migra.

Back in the day one could get a California Driver's License and then register a car and purchase insurance. Even if one was here working under the table. That was taken away.

We need them as workers, but we're not willing to certify them to drive, let them register their vehicles and purchase insurance. They need to be here for lots of reasons, mostly because they support families and there is a demand for their cheap but experienced and enthusiastic labor, and because of things like NAFTA which has destroyed the agricultural sector in their country as well as degrading their economy in general. It's a complex set of issues, I understand them, and I'm on the side of everyday people.

I also believe in information being public, so, for all those reasons and more, I relayed the information I received.

And if you think drunk drivers are checking the traffic on waccobb.net at almost 10:00 p.m. on a Friday night, well, they're pretty savvy drunks, or they're not that drunk, or their designated drivers just don't want the hassle. So, now you know.

I doubt there's much chance you'll see it my way. But it's a free country, right? I've heard tell of that. But I've also seen plenty of evidence that such ideas are going by the wayside.

[Marty M]

Hello Flexible,

You wouldn't happen to be implying that because I am bi-lingual I do not own a washing machine? Or that it would be counter intuitive that I was part of a conscious community? Or that Spanish is the language of the only unfairly treated part of the population? No I didn't think so.

As for check point information being available in languages other than English in our diverse population, it is.

Personally speaking, I am more than pleased that Barry is an inclusive person and has made this board an inclusive venue.

Marty

Miles -

I agree completely with your concern about the use of checkpoints to impound the cars of sober drivers without licenses!

But why not post your note in Spanish, on laundromat walls, and send a text to KBBF, KXTS, KRRS and KTOB - the Spanish language radio stations? They can reach the population that is being unfairly discriminated against. WACCOBB just seemed a counter intuitive place to share this information!

And yes, it is 'public' information.

I've wondered why the Sonoma County Human Rights Commission doesn't take a stand on this? Even with their limited authority they have the capacity to keep it in front of the administrators of public safety agencies and their elected bosses. And what if the Grand Jury could look at this question!

P.S. What about my comment led you to believe I wouldn't see it your way?

P.P.S. It is only a free county if you have money.

[zenekar]

I personally think that it is easier and more effective to create change through the almighty dollar rather than betting on sleazy politicians to do something that actually benefits us. The vast majority of our political system is bought and paid for by big business, making it ultimately impossible to change policies in a way that benefit the people. So why not just make it sort of impossible for the big business folk to keep buying off politicians? Most Americans, after all, are giving these big business jerks our money voluntarily while simultaneously complaining about their impact on our political system. I find this approach much more direct, with an actual chance of creating change, rather than pleading for change from a political system that will promise it all day long, and never ever deliver.

_________

It's important to do both. Corporations have control of the government because citizens are not paying attention and allow it to happen. Witness the uprisings in North Africa and the Middle East, US Midwest... people awakening and demanding their rights. Not "pleading for change" as you say, but demanding change.

[Barry]

Discussion of DUI Checkpoints and how the affect the Latino and other immigrant communities, has been split off into a new thread called DUI and DWB (Driving While Brown)